Irked Moily refuses to answer queries on gas pricing issue

Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday refused to answer queries on the FIR filed against him and industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Delhi in connection with the pricing of natural gas.

"There should be an occasion.

“Do not spoil the mood of the people who have come to enjoy the building. Have some sense of respect. . . for news purpose, go somewhere else and not here," Moily said when asked about the FIR against him and Ambani in the gas pricing issue.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the new building to house the Environment Ministry.

Flanked by his Cabinet colleague and Rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Moily refused to answer any query on political developments also.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took the step of ordering the state's anti-corruption wing to register a case against Mukesh Ambani and Veerappa Moily, accusing India's richest man and the oil minister of colluding to deliver a windfall to Reliance Industries by doubling natural gas prices.

He ordered the first information report, or FIR, based on a complaint filed by former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, ex-navy chief Admiral RH Tahiliani, former union finance secretary EAS Sarma and senior lawyer Kamini Jaiswal.

Image: M Veerappa Moily