Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, in a stunning revelation on Friday, said petroleum ministers are threatened by import lobbies not to cut India’s $160 billion oil imports.
“I’m telling you with all sense of responsibility that we are floating in oil and gas in this country. We don’t explore it. We place every obstruction not to do it. There are bureaucratic obstructions and delays. There are other lobbies. They don’t want us to stop imports. There are some lobbies who are working on it. Every minister is threatened many a times. Every minister who occupies this position is threatened,” a visibly upset oil minister said a day after Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said the government would decide on coal and gas price soon, in a bid to reboot the economy.
Moily, however, refused to name or identify anyone who may have directly or indirectly threatened the ministers.