Anil Ambani resigns from Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Three days after Sonia Gandhi surprised everyone by quitting the Lok Sabha and the National Advisory Council, business tycoon Anil Ambani followed suit.

An independent Member of Parliament, Ambani resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Saturday and vowed not to contest an election again.

The move is at odds with the decision of his close friend Amar Singh and that of the Samajwadi Party, with whose support he was elected to the Council of States in June 2004 from Uttar Pradesh.

Singh, chairman of the high-powered Uttar Pradesh Development Council, is one of the many MPs allegedly holding offices of profit but has steadfastly refused to resign. Ambani is only an honorary member of the UPDC but has chosen to follow the path adopted by Singh’s bete noire Gandhi.

It could well be that the office-of-profit controversy has given Ambani a golden opportunity to distance himself from the hurly-burly of politics and focus on his Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

The R-ADAG chairman will continue to be on the UPDC, which includes members of the standing of Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani and former Hindustan Lever chairman MS Banga.

In a statement, Ambani said, “It is my firm view that in public life one must uphold the highest standards of transparency, propriety, and ethics. One must also avoid any possibility of conflict, however remote or unlikely.” Amar Singh’s office said he did not want to comment on Ambani’s decision.

Choosing business over politics?

“He’s not distancing himself from his political friends,” said a source in R-ADAG. “He has friends across political parties and will continue to enjoy good rapport with them.”

The source pointed out that when Anil Ambani entered the Rajya Sabha, he had no role to play in the Reliance Group, elder brother Mukesh having sidelined him from the board and stripped him of all executive functions.

Now, he heads R-ADAG, which includes seven listed entities, has more than 80 lakh shareholders, services 8 crore customers, and has a market capitalisation of Rs75,000 crore. “These are awesome responsibilities,” the source said. “This is a call he had to take.”