Kejriwal and Bhushan attribute Jaipal Reddy shunting to his tough stance against Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has responded to allegations made by India Against Corruption (IAC) activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan on Wednesday. The duo had alleged that the ruling United Progressive Alliance and National Democratic Alliance, which was in power earlier, favoured the company. They said both regimes had given RIL contracts and concessions in the KG basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, at huge cost to the exchequer.

In a press release, RIL said: "The statements made by IAC in the press conference today [Wednesday] are devoid of any truth or substance whatsoever and are denied. The deep-water exploration project in the KG-D6 basin has deployed the best technical resources… This project has added great economic value to the country."

Kejriwal and Bhushan also ripped into the government for shifting S. Jaipal Reddy out of the petroleum ministry, saying it was clear that the government was under pressure from RIL.

Reddy was moved to the low-profile science and technology ministry in the October 28 reshuffle. The next day, he did not show up at the petroleum ministry to hand over charge to his successor, Veerappa Moily.

During his 21-month tenure as petroleum minister, Reddy resisted several RIL proposals . He refused to increase the price of gas from its KG-D6 block, saying there could be no pricing review before 2014, as scheduled. Reddy justified his stance saying that a price revision would lead to loss of $6.3 billion to the exchequer.

Apart from the price revision, he did not approve an increase in capital expenditure and operating expenditure on the KG-D6 block, and did not grant permission for commercial production from the NEC 25 block of the Mahanadi basin in Orissa, as well as the Kaveri basin in the south. He also refused to revise the price of gas from RIL's coalbed methane blocks in Sohagpur, Madhya Pradesh.

Reddy was also pushing for a technical, performance and financial audit of the KG-D6 block by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. However, RIL was willing to accept only a financial audit.

The minister, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, is also said to have had differences with the Congress top brass because of his support for a Telengana state.