Greed Or Vendetta

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Fuelling their public spat, Anil Ambani on Friday wondered if &quot;corporate greed, personal vendetta&quot; or his advisers were driving elder brother Mukesh to deny gas to his group firm. Reacting to Mukesh Ambani-led RIL's statement advising restraint on both sides while the Supreme Court settles the gas dispute, the Anil Ambani group said that it was Reliance Industries that disregarded the judiciary by not implementing the Bombay High Court order on gas supply. &quot;RIL is seeking refuge under a false cover of ongoing legal proceedings to skirt questions of national importance, which are not even before the Supreme Court,&quot; the ADA Group statement said. The Supreme Court is to hear on September 1, cross-appeals filed by Mukesh and Anil group firms on the June 15 high court order that asked RIL to supply 28 mmscmd of gas to RNRL at $2.34 per mmBtu for 17 years. The statement quoted Anil as saying, &quot;I am pained that under my respected elder brother's leadership, RIL is still doing everything in its power to renege on its binding commitment to supply gas to us. &quot;This is so contrary to the fundamental values of trust and integrity that my visionary father, Dhirubhai Ambani, stood for, and on the basis of which he founded Reliance... Whatever be the reason... and I have no idea what it is...&quot; Meanwhile, RIL's Petroleum business President Atul Chandra said, reading out the statement, &quot;During the course of his media campaign, Anil Ambani has made several personal comments about his elder brother and RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani.&quot; Anil's statements &quot;are a part of an orchestrated campaign to bring into public debate and prejudge the issues that are pending before the Supreme Court,&quot; RIL said, emphasising that its legal advisers had asked it to refrain from commenting on issues being adjudicated by the Supreme Court. &quot;As such, we shall continue to exercise restraint in the face of Anil Ambani's provocative public statements. We hope that Anil and his associates will also exercise similar restraint and leave the matter to be decided by the Supreme Court,&quot; the RIL statement said. &quot;We have consistently maintained that in the KG Basin RIL is only a contractor engaged by the Government of India to harness the Basin's hydrocarbon assets in the best interest of the nation,&quot; the RIL statement said. &quot;The asset that has been created by our investment of over Rs 32,000 crores will accelerate Indias economic growth and create large scale employment. Significantly, this investment in developing the KG Basin has been made after the demerger of Reliance Industries in 2005,&quot; RIL said. Anil Ambani had also sought a probe into whether the capex figure had been over-stated by RIL. (PTI)