The Hindu : Front Page : Anil Ambani resigns from Rajya Sabha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 26, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Anil Ambani resigns from Rajya Sabha

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: Industrialist Anil Ambani on Saturday resigned his Rajya Sabha seat to which he was elected as an independent member in June 2004 with the support of the Samajwadi Party.

He sent his resignation by fax to Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and also spoke to him on telephone. A decision on the resignation would be taken when it is received in original, official sources told The Hindu .

Mr. Ambani's term was till June 2010. He is a member of the Uttar Pradesh Development Council (UPDC) which the Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh chairs. Although Mr. Ambani's name does not figure in the list of MPs whose names have been forwarded for holding an office of profit to the Election Commission, he said in a statement that he had taken the step to "uphold the highest standards of transparency, propriety and ethics and to avoid any possibility of controversy, however remote or unlikely."

"Keeping this in mind, I have decided to tender my resignation from Rajya Sabha with immediate effect," said the Chairman of Reliance Capital, Reliance Infocomm and Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Energy Limited.

Mr. Ambani said that prior to his election to Rajya Sabha he had joined the UPDC in an honorary capacity in October 2003. It is an advisory role that he continues to perform.

He said there had been no suggestion that there was any issue in his continuing to be a member of the UPDC after being elected to the Rajya Sabha, yet he decided to quit.

Mr. Ambani, who is known to be close to the Bachchans and Mr. Amar Singh, is the third Rajya Sabha member to resign in the wake of Ms. Jaya Bachchan's disqualification for holding an office of profit as the Chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council.

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