NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav Monday shocked the Lok Sabha when he accused Petroleum Minister Murli Deora of "corruption" on the floor of the house, alleging "favour worth Rs.15,000 crore" to a single individual in the gas dispute between the Ambani brothers.
"This is the minister who makes money. The petroleum minister must resign, he is indulging in corruption," alleged Yadav, who led the protests in the lower house resulting in the house being adjourned twice.
"Throughout the statement, the minister was trying to hide the real issue," said Yadav, referring to Deora's speech earlier explaining the government's stand on the dispute over gas between Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources.
"He (Deora) is doing a favour worth Rs. 15,000 crore to a single individual. The entire country is being hoodwinked," Yadav, who was speaking in Hindi, alleged.
Deora was present in the charge when Yadav made his charge. He later got on his feet along with his colleagues to protest the serious allegation.
Yadav later led a walkout of his party members after Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, who was in the chair, declined to allow him to speak any further over the issue.
A former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yadav alleged that the government was discriminating against his home state over supply of natural gas for the Dadri power project of Reliance Natural Resources.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources and elder brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries are fighting the bitter legal battle over the supply and pricing of gas from the fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast.
The Samajwadi Party leader's charges sparked angry reactions from the Congress members, to which Yadav clarified that he had nothing to do with the row between the two brothers brewing for nearly five years now.
The protests came after Deora issued a statement saying the government would do everything possible to protect public interest over the distribution of gas from the southern fields, said to be one of the largest such discoveries in Asia in recent years.
Glossing over the dispute between Mukesh and his brother Anil Ambani, who owns the RNRL, over gas allocation, the minister said: "We have nothing to do with the private dispute of companies or individuals."