Kejriwal’s new target: UPA, NDA ‘nexus’ with Reliance

Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal's India Against Corruption Wednesday turned its focus on what it said was a nexus between politics and big business, accusing the UPA government and its predecessor NDA of favouring Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in the KG Basin gas exploration project. IAC also alleged that union minister Jaipal Reddy lost the petroleum portfolio in Sunday's reshuffle because he rejected RIL's proposals.

Kejriwal's "expose" was not "pretty big" as he promised in his tweet earlier in the day as much of what he talked about has already been reported in the media.

Addressing a packed press conference, Kejriwal said the production sharing agreement the NDA government had signed with RIL was a "sweet deal" which its successor UPA "implemented faithfully."

RIL rejected the charges saying there was no truth in them. "The statements made by IAC in the press conference today are devoid of any truth or substance whatsoever and are denied," the company said in a statement.

"The deep water exploration project in the KG-D6 basin has deployed the best technical resources and has been recognized by the oil and gas industry as one of the very best in its class. This project has added great economic value to the country and by all accounts is a project of which India can be justly proud," RIL said.

"Irresponsible allegations made by IAC at the behest of vested interests without basic understanding of the complexities of a project of this nature do not merit a response."

Kejriwal's contended that the 2000 contract was "meant to favour RIL from the beginning" as he argued that the investment multiple (IM) — the ratio of net cash income to exploration and development costs — benefited RIL. He said higher capital expenditure implied more profits for the company.

"Reliance has a huge incentive to keep IM below 1.5 by increasing expenditure artificially," IAC said.

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