Amar Singh urges Kokila Behn to broker peace among Ambanis

Amar Singh urges Kokila Behn to broker peace among Ambanis

Saturday, November 27, 2004 (Lucknow/Mumbai):

Supporters of the Ambani brothers have made public statements to persuade the heirs to the Reliance empire to sort out their differences amicably.

While a senior Samajwadi Party leader has sought the intervention of the Reliance matriarch to resolve the issue, Anil Ambani today spent the day with his family at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh.

Later in the day the two brothers Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani attended a business awards function in Mumbai. But of course they came separately.

On Friday it became public that Anil unsuccessfully opposed his elder brother Mukesh Ambani's move to sideline him and take over as the undisputed boss of India's largest company Reliance Industries.

Friends make appeal

In Lucknow, the Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh openly batted for Anil Ambani.

He appealed to Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani's widow Kokila Behn to settle the dispute between her sons Mukesh and Anil.

"I request Kokilabehn to intervene and sort out the problems though I don't believe that there is any problem. I think it's more in the papers as Anil has never brought up this subject with me," Amar Singh said.

The two brothers are fighting over the control of the Rs 90,000 crore industrial empire which has business interests in oil refining, petrochemicals, power and telecom.

According to some reports, the two are heading for a messy legal battle. Perhaps because of this their friends are going public with appeals for an amicable solution.

Emotional chord

"This is not politics, it's between brothers. It is true that Anil bhai is more than a brother to me. It is an emotional relationship. Not just me, the entire business community is worried. Reliance affects the entire stock market," Amar Singh said.

In Mumbai, another business tycoon Rahul Bajaj is said to be in favour of Mukesh Ambani.

The differences between the Ambani brothers came out in the open last week after Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of the group's flagship Reliance Industries, said there were 'ownership issues' within the group though they were in the private domain.

Shares in the Reliance stable have displayed a nervous trend since then despite Mukesh Ambani's statement that the Reliance founder late Dhirubhai Ambani had decreed that the CMD was the final authority on any issues concerning RIL

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(With PTI inputs)