CPM for probe of Reliance role in oil contracts

New Delhi, Aug 9: Communist Party of India (Marxist) today demanded a special investigation into the oil transactions and surcharges paid by Reliance Industries, the "biggest Indian beneficiary in the oil-for-food programme of Iraq."

Flaying the UPA government and the Opposition BJP for remaining silent on the alleged involvement of Reliance, the Polit Bureau of CPI (M) said the company lifted 15.78 million barrels of the 19 million barrels it was allotted as a non-contractual beneficiary.

''It is incumbent upon the UPA government to submit a report on the biggst ''non-contractual'' beneficiary,'' said a statement issued by the Polit Bureau.

The party also blamed the BJP on the issue saying it was during the BJP-led government that the allotments to Reliance were given.

''The silence of the BJP on this issue is also illuminating,'' the Polit Bureau said.

On the role of former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, who has been suspended by the Congress following his indictment by the Justice Pathak Inquiry Authority that he ''misused'' his position as a leader of the Congress to recommend ''a certain individual and his company'' to the Iraqi authorities for oil contracts, the CPI (M) said it was up to the Congress party to decide on the action taken.

The Polit Bureau said the party had demanded that the inquiry should also involve allotments to the Reliance, but ''surprisingly, this was not done''.

UNI