Govt calls Anil Ambani's campaign 'unfortunate'

Source: PTI

August 21, 2009

Dubbing as "most unfortunate" the advertisement campaign against it by the Anil Ambani group, the government on Friday hit back, saying the propaganda was unleashed on a sub-judice matter.

Countering the claims made by Anil Ambani group that the government stood to lose because of the Petroleum Ministry's connivance with Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on the gas issue, an official statement said the Centre would earn Rs 84,000 crore (Rs 840 billion) from KG-D6 gas fields and not just Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) as projected in the campaign.

Committing itself to uphold the rule of law, the government said that it cannot enter into "needless and unnecessary controversies".

Fighting a bitter battle to get gas from RIL at a committed price of $2.34 per mmBtu for RNRL, Anil Ambani group had last Monday started a front-page ad campaign in almost all the national dailies, questioning the Oil Ministry's role on the gas issue and alleging that it was going out of the way to help RIL earn a super-normal profit of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).