Mukesh saddened, Anil pained by their fight

Mukesh Ambani is ``saddened'' and his younger brother Anil Ambani is ``pained'' by the ongoing tussle between the two over supply of
gas from the K G Basin and yet they soldier on with their fight that's fast reaching epic proportions.

Mukesh Ambani broke his silence on the gas supply dispute with Anil on Friday, saying he was ``profoundly saddened'' by personal comments made against him by his younger brother. In response, Anil said, ``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.''

RIL said its chairman Mukesh Ambani had not responded to Anil's volley of charges in public out of respect for the Supreme Court which is adjudicating on the matter. Anil's ADAG too had similar observations about ``RIL's utter disrespect'' for the judiciary because it hasn't implemented the Bombay high court order.

RIL said in its statement, ``During the course of his media campaign, Anil Ambani has also made several personal comments about his elder brother and the chairman of RIL, Mukesh Ambani. While Mukesh Ambani is profoundly saddened by his brother's remarks, he requests the media to respect his decision not to respond.''

RIL described Anil's spate of recent public outbursts against RIL and Mukesh as an ``orchestrated campaign'' aimed at ``prejudging issues pending before the Supreme Court...He (Anil) and his associates have attempted to convert what are essentially legal issues into public issues for a self-serving media campaign aimed at maligning RIL as also other venerable institutions of the country for private and personal gains,'' the statement said.

The ``venerable institutions'' might well be an inference to the petroleum ministry which has been the target of Anil's attack for allegedly siding with RIL in their gas dispute. Anil had started off with the ministry's criticism at the RNRL shareholders meeting and also cast doubts over RIL as well as Mukesh's intentions of honouring the demerger MoU. The battle was also taken up by RNRL, which joined issue with Murli Deora when the oil minister made statements on the matter in Parliament.

Explaining its protracted silence even on the face of sustained attack from Anil, RIL said it has not joined the war of words since the matter is with the Supreme Court and only the apex court can take a view. ``As a law abiding and responsible corporate citizen, RIL has chosen to refrain from reacting to the malicious propaganda unleashed by Anil Ambani in the national media. Our legal advisors have also counselled us to refrain from commenting on issues being adjudicated by the Supreme Court. As such we shall continue to exercise restraint.''

Refuting all charges levelled by Anil and RNRL, the RIL statement described them as ``baseless, tendentious and motivated allegations and insinuations.'' ``We would like to assure the people of India, the government of India, MPs and all our shareholders that our objective is to act at all times in a manner that is fully in consonance with our respect for the law of the land and is protective of the nations interests,'' RIL said.

Responding to Anil's charge that Mukesh did not want to honour gas supply commitments in the demerger MoU, RIL said it had no role to play in matters concerning supplying fuel from the Andhra offshore field. ``We have consistently maintained that in the KG basin, RIL is only a contractor engaged by the government to harness the basin's hydrocarbon assets in the best interest of the nation... As contractors, we have at all times acted with a full sense of responsibility and in complete compliance with all obligation (under government norms) attached to our role as the contractor.''