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Baalu Issue New Delhi, April 30 Union petroleum minister Murli Deora tried to read out a statement late in the evening in the Rajya Sabha amidst the din created by the opposition parties that demanded a statement by the Prime Minister and not Deora on the matter. The vice-chairman of the House adjourned the House till Monday even as Deora had read out just a few lines when the BJP and the AIADMK members stormed the well of the House demanding a reply from the Prime minister and nobody else. Deora’s written four-page statement that was later procured by media persons said, “The PMO has not issued any order or any instructions to help the company. Certain references were received from the PMO in a routine manner without any recommendation on the basis of a representation made by Selva Kumar Baalu, a director of the company”. Immediately before Deora started reading out his statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was present in the House, left triggering uproar by the opposition. Giving the background Deora said the ministry of petroleum and natural gas had made allocations of about 4.60 lakh cubic meters of gas to Kings Indian Chemicals Corporation limited and Kings India Power Corporation limited. Deora further said not a single cubic meter of gas had been supplied to the companies so far. The previous NDA Government cancelled the allocations in January 2004. Deora said a petition was received by the PM in May 2005 signed by T.R.B .Rajaa, chairman of the Kings India Power Corporation claiming they were being discriminated against. A discussion was held and the ministry said it was not possible to give relief to the company. The company petitioned the Madras High Court after the government gave no relief and allocation was cancelled. A single-judge Bench in 2007 passed an order asking the ministry to hear the petitioner and thereafter make re-allotment of gas. This was not implemented. The company filed a contempt petition. The single-judge order was questioned by the Tamil Nadu Power Producers Association and the Narimanam Zone Natural Gas Consumers Association filed an appeal. A Division Bench of the Madras High Court set-aside the earlier order and the government was directed to decide upon the applications of the firms on merit. Separately, a body called the Independent Power Producers Association has filed a writ petition in the high court of Delhi over the allocation of gas and the court gave a stay order, said Deora while adding that the matter was sub judice.
PM: Nothing unusual about letters by PMO New Delhi, April 30 The Prime Minister disagreed that there was any effort to distance the PMO from this whole episode. “There is no distance,” he remarked. The PM’s response was in piece with the view taken by the government and the Congress party, which have persistently maintained that the letters written by the PMO to the petroleum minister regarding the allocation of gas for Baalu’s family concern were forwarded in a routine manner without agreeing or endorsing the contents. While the Congress has not defended Baalu’s conduct, it has gone out of its way to insulate the Prime Minister and his office from any opposition attack. The party described the role of the PMO in the issue as a “normal practice”, saying it usually referred letters from MPs, ministers or dignitaries to the concerned authority for appropriate action. “The PMO has done what is usually done in each and every issue referred by an MP or a minister or some other dignitary. It is usually referred to the concerned authority by the PMO for necessary, legal or proper action,” Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said today. “So we don’t think the PMO has done anything wrong in this regard. This is the normal practice of the PMO,” he added. As far as Baalu’s admission in Parliament that he had sought favours from the government for his son’s company, the Congress has left it to the minister and his party, the DMK, to defend itself. Saying that coalitions compulsions did not allow them to seek Baalu’s removal, the Congress and the UPA government were hoping the controversy would blow over when Parliament session came to a close. Deora should have replied in House, not to New Delhi, April 30 Raising the matter just after the question hour, Digvijay Singh of the JD(U) said the minister spoke outside Parliament instead of making a statement in the House on the reported recommendation by the PMO to expedite supply of gas to firms owned by family members of the shipping minister. He said Deora was supposed to give a statement before Parliament today on the issue after the government announced yesterday that it would give a response today. “What will he (Deora) speak before Parliament if he has already replied outside Parliament,” Singh added. He also gave a notice of breach of privilege against the minister for making a statement outside Parliament on the Baalu issue. His party colleague Sharad Yadav then urged the Chair to take the matter of breach of privilege seriously. Deputy chairman K Rahman Khan, who was in the Chair, told the JD(U) member that his notice was under consideration of the Chair and that the Chairman would examine it and accordingly take a decision. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had come out in defence of the PMO, saying there was no nepotism involved in it. Minister of state for parliamentary affairs V Narayanasamy had announced in the Upper House yesterday that Deora would make a statement in the House on Wednesday.
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