Click to play videoNew Delhi: Twenty-four hours after Manmohan Singh met Reliance Industries Ltd chairperson Mukesh Ambani, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a strong denial on Tuesday that he was intervening in a corporate war between the Ambani brothers.
The Prime Minister's statement was an attempt to distance himself from his critics who are claiming that there is a corporate price to be extracted for support from the Samajwadi Party for the Indo-US nuclear deal. At the heart of it is the friendship between SP leader Amar Singh and Anil Ambani, Mukesh’s younger brother and chief of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
The Left Front has called the Manmohan-Mukesh meeting worrying. "When the PM’s office gets involved in business battles its embarrassing and we are concerned about it," said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.
Ironically, within moments of the PMO statement, Singh was at it again, accusing Petroleum minister Murli Deora for being too close to Ambani. "Murli Deora should not continue as minister because of his proximity with a particular industrial house,” he said.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, however, made it clear that the Prime Minister was not going to change any minister under pressure from the Samajwadi Party. The congress too, made it clear that dropping a minister was the sole prerogative of the PM.
"Anyone can make representation but that doesn't give powers to anyone to veto an decision," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
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