Isn’t it infuriating to see India’s richest and most iconic siblings locked in a political battle? I’m referring to the Mukesh and Anil Ambani spat which has taken yet another turn for the ugly, with Anil’s Reliance Natural Resources and Mukesh’s Reliance Industries Ltd slugging it out (despite the family’s wealth) over money.

While I won’t attempt to dissect their spat, for this forum has been left open for our readers to decide, here’s a brief overview of their very public row:

Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, had agreed to sell 80 mmscmd of natural gas from its Krishna Godavari Basin at $ 2.34 per mmbtu for 17 years. However, at the annual meeting of Reliance Natural Resources, younger brother accused Mukesh of trying “''every trick in the book'' to back out the agreement that they had signed four years back. Anil’s company is not the only one that’s suffering. The whole of northern India is reeling under a major power shortage, and if Anil Ambani is to be believed, his brother is the villain of the piece; who like a true corporate stooge is trying to maximize his profits – deals, agreements, familial ties and country’s interest be dammed. Mukesh Ambani will only part with his gas if his brother agrees to shell out the government determined price which is almost 80% higher than the original amount.

In June this year, Anil had seemingly won the first round when the Bombay High court decided the case in his favour, but that didn’t stop Mukesh from promptly appealing to the Supreme Court of India.

Outside the court, the battle rages on. Anil’s verbal barbs kept getting more and more vicious as he accused his brother’s company of having no regard for its “solemn word” and “no respect for the sanctity of contract….in its headlong pursuit of corporate greed”

While the brothers fight it out in the legal arena, northern India plagued by a chronic power shortage has no option but to wait and watch. While the industry experts are pushing the government to intervene and mediate between the two brothers, the Bombay High court actually advised the brothers to “revert to” their mother Kokilaben and have her sort out the issue. Unfortunately, unlike in the past when the Ambani matriarch had promptly stepped in after her husband’s death to divide the vast empire between the two sons, this time she too is clueless and unable to find a solution to this gaseous problem.