AAP slams Veerappa Moily for his statement of consulting lawyers

NEW DELHI: Attacking BJP and Congress for their "mysterious silence" over gas pricing issue, AAP today took exception to Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily's statement of consulting top law officers for examining the Election Commission's directive to defer price hike of natural gas.

"Moily's statement that he will consult the top law officers of the government on the EC decision is another attempt to mislead the nation.

"When the matter is already pending before the Supreme Court and the EC has referred to it, what is the logic in Moily trying to seek a legal opinion?" AAP said in a press release.

The statement stated, "It appears that the petroleum minister is once again merely trying to please the RIL through his statements".

"Moily needs to be reminded that though his tenure as a union minister is coming to an end, he had been sworn in as a minister to uphold the Constitution and not corporate interests," it added.

Slamming Congress and BJP, AAP said they are hand in glove in its "unsuccessful" bid to allow huge gains for the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) at the cost of common man.

Earlier in the day, Senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said, "The entire world knows why Moily was brought to the ministry. It is not a hidden secret that Jaipal Reddy had raised objection over hiking of gas price. Moily was brought to do the will of RIL and he did the job dutifully after joining office.

"AAP welcomes the EC's decision, but what astonishes us is the silence of Congress and BJP on the issue. We were expecting that both parties will also welcome the decision. But whenever Mukesh Ambani's name crops up, silence of BJP and Narendra Modi amazes us," Yadav added.

EC had yesterday asked the UPA government to defer notifying doubling of price of the fuel produced by companies such as Reliance Industries till general elections are completed.