"I have not seen him. I do not know him," he told a press meet here on Wednesday. The minister also denied that the residence of his special secretary, Bhalla, was raided by the Delhi police after Sharma's arrest.

On Aiadmk chief Jayalalitha's reported demand to the prime minister AB Vajpayee that the petroleum ministry be allotted to the party, he said he was not aware of any such demand. "However, I am open for a discussion on the demand, if Jayalalitha convenes a meeting of the leaders of the Aiadmk alliance to discuss it," he said.

He refuted reports that the Aiadmk front in Tamil Nadu had been dismantled. "Let Jayalalitha come out with a statement that her allaince with otherparties had ended. I will react to it then," he said, adding that the front was "intact".

Meanhwile, the minister also announced that restrictions on use of liquefied petroleum gas as fuel for motor vehicles are likely to be lifted very soon by the petroleum ministry. Once permitted, the LPG market is expected to witness a significant expansion and private operators are likely to benefit. At present, private-sector operators have to contend with retail LPG which is supplied at a subsidy of Rs 72 per cylinder.

Ramamurthy also hinted at a possible reduction in diesel prices in the near term following a considerable fall in international prices of crude. But he ruled out the possibility of a reduction in petrol prices in the near future.

Emphasising that there was no roll back of reforms in the petroleum sector, he added that a package of further reforms was being prepared and discussions were on among the secretaries of the petroleum, finance and commerce ministries to finalise the details. The ministersaid that withdrawal of subsidy would require a major political decision.

He also denied involvement of any kickback on IOC-Reliance deal whereby the former would buy 50 per cent of latter's production for marketing. He refuted Subramanian Swamy's charge that the agreed price was artificially high by saying that the rate will be as per the monthy import-parity price.

Ramamurthy said that at the time of granting licence to both Reliance and Essar for setting up a refinery, the Narasimha Rao government had assured that the centre would provide the necessary marketing arrangement for disposing the products of the companies. This was because under the existing rules except for IOC, BPCL, HPCL and IBP, no other entity can market petroleum products.

Ministerial interference in Arochem issue denied

Union petroleum minister VK Ramamurthy has denied any interference by his ministry in the Arochem issue. The dispute between the promoters Spic and MRL has come close to being resolved with MRL boardclearing a proposal to withdraw from the project. At the same time, MRL CMD V Shyam Sunder put in his papers giving way to reports that he did so as he was unhappy with the stand of the petroleum ministry on the issue which was favouring Spic. Ramamurthy said that Shyam Sunder was resigning as he is moving to a private refinery. As per the settlement between the two, Spic will pay MRL the cost incurred so far along with interest and MRL will be allotted three-fourth of the land, while Spic will get one-fourth for the Arochem project, he added. The agreement, he said, has not yet reached the ministry for its clearence.