RIL not contemplating banking foray, says Mukesh Ambani

In February, Reliance had agreed to sell a stake in 23 of its oil and gas blocks, including some in the KG basin, to BP in a USD 7.2 billion deal, and is expected to benefit from BP's deepwater exploration expertise.

The partnership will synergies BP's worldwide deep-water expertise with Reliance's project execution capabilities and efforts in India's deepwater basins to form an unparallelled combination, he said.

Ramdev's agitation programme replete with music, humour and yoga

Devotional and patriotic songs today reverberated across the Ramlila Maidan, the site of yoga guru Baba Ramdev's hunger strike against black money, as his discourse was laced with humour and demonstration of 'asanas'.

A music-filled morning greeted the thousands of people who poured into the sprawling site to see and listen to Ramdev.

At 4:50am, Ramdev came on the dais accompanied by saffron-clad monks and was joined by radical Sangh Parivar leader Sadhvi Ritambhara and Muslim and Sikh religious leaders.

It was almost a one-man show by Ramdev who conducted the proceedings, interspersing yoga demonstration, discourse and music with a bit of humour to spice up the proceedings.

Whenever religious leaders came on the dais, Ramdev would introduce, apparently to project that his movement was not sponsored by RSS or any other organisation.

Ramdev continuously addressed the gathering and was followed by Sadhvi Ridambhara who lavished praise on the Baba saying "if there were more Vallabbhai Patels, then there was no need for a sanyasi to sit on satyagraha."

Maulvi Rizvi complimented the Sadhvi for her speech and said "this is not Muallah Omar's Taliban.This is Hindustan," drawing thunderous applause.

Ramdev was at his humorous best when he told his followers that the hunger strike will help them in two ways.

"Hamara mota bhai aur moti baheno ke liye yeh satyagrah health benefits dega aur desh ke liye wealth mil jayega" (while the hunger strike will help slim obese brothers and sisters, it will also bring wealth to the country)".

When a follower gave him a Rs11 lakh cheque, he quipped "take the photos, this is not black money".

Ramdev said support from politicians is welcome but they cannot make give speeches.

"They can support us but they cannot make speeches because it leads to controversy," he said.

The yoga guru then gave instructions to those who were fasting along with him, saying "we have arranged for water and lemon juice but don't drink in large quantities."

"By making this call, we can awaken the country. We have received more than 55 lakh missed calls already. Sometime, we will cross a record one crore mark to remove corruption," he said, referring to his campaign.