Deora offers to resign from Cabinet over CAG charges related to oil exploration

New Delhi, July 4(ANI): Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora has offered to resign from the Union Cabinet.

Congress sources said Deora submitted resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi last week and pushed for the inclusion of his son Milind Deora in the council of ministers.

Milind is a second-time Member of Parliament from South Mumbai.

While Deora has said that he is planning to resign for personal reasons, sources say he is was also piqued over the manner in which Petroleum Minster S Jaipal Reddy has handled the media on the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) draft report, which pointed out several violations in the execution of exploration contracts by the petroleum ministry between 2006 and 2008.

The Comptroller and Auditor General had also used sharp words for the way the oil ministry, under Deora, had failed to exercise due caution to prevent private oil exploration firms from siphoning off government profits from oil and gas blocks.

"Our audit review also revealed that, by and large, the Ministry and the Director General of Hydrocarbons (both through the Management Committee and otherwise) did not pay adequate intention to protecting - at every stage of E and P, be it exploration, development or production - GoI's financial interests (specifically in terms of exercising adequate control on recoverable costs and monitoring "with a hawk's eye" how every proposal/ decision would potentially affect GoI's share of profit petroleum)," the RTV Asia quoted CAG draft report, as saying.

Deora served as petroleum minister between January 2006 and January 2011 before moving to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Deora has declined to comment on the issue and only said that he had "already done a five-year stint as Cabinet minister" and was getting on in age.

According to Congress sources, Deora wanted the petroleum ministry to tell the media that he had asked the CAG to audit exploration spending in the Krishna-Godavari block operated by Reliance Industries Ltd, Rajasthan block by Cairn India and Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields by the BG Group in 200.

Deora claims that he had been telling key party office-bearers that he had assured the CAG that it would get unfettered access to the accounts of these operators after the CAG complained that RIL was reluctant about providing access to records in August 2009.

Deora is reportedly keen on becoming an office-bearer of the Congress party. (ANI)