Considered the party's chief ministerial candidate at one time, Pradhan had steered one of the Modi government's most talked about schemes Pradhan Mantri Ujjawla Yojana, an initiative to provide free cooking gas connection to poor women.

Even though he lost one Assembly election from the Pallahara constituency in 2009, Dharmendra Pradhan's political journey has witnessed a rise and rise. Pradhan, who has been elected to the upper house of the Parliament this time from Madhya Pradesh, is a three-time MP and one-time MLA.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Prakash Javadekar are set to take oath as ministers in Modi Sarkar 2.0 on Thursday when Narendra Modi will be sworn in as the 16th Prime Minister of India.

Gandhi also reiterated the Congress' demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal. He claimed that if it was conducted, names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and businessman Anil Ambani will come to the fore.

In a letter to Goyal, Pradhan informed him of the incident that took place on Wednesday, saying it had caused panic among the residents.

The US administration has allowed India and other seven countries to keep importing oil from Iran, despite its reimposition of crippling sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation from November 5.

"We have to fulfill our own domestic requirements. Some of our companies have already nominated theire quota for November," said the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, while referring to import of Iran's oil by Indian companies.

  Pradhan said he had spoken to Saudi Oil Minister Khalid A Al-Falih and "reminded him of the June commitment of Opec to increase production by 1 million barrels per day" to help cool prices.

Reacting to Pradhan's proposal, Odisha Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said the Centre should first reduce tax on the oil price.   

Earlier today, the Indian rupee slumped to a record low of 71 against the US dollar by falling 26 paise on persistent demand for the US currency amid rising crude prices.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said the government will file an appeal in High Court against a ruling by an international tribunal which rejected its USD 1.55 billion claims against Reliance Industries for allegedly siphoning gas from fields operated by state-owned ONGC

However, despite the cut, petrol prices were hovering above the Rs 80-mark in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

The minister recalled the central government had in October last year reduced the excise on fuel by Rs 2 per litre keeping in view the interest of the poor people, adding the Centre is looking at both short and long term solutions this time.

In Mumbai, petrol touched an all time time of Rs 84.99 per litre, while diesel was being sold at Rs 77. 76 per litre. Both the major petroleum products witnessed a hike of 29 paise per litre and 28 paise per paise per litre respectively.

Amid the “crisis situation” created by rising fuel prices, BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the Centre taking the issue of oil prices seriously, and that it is working out on a formula to reduce the rates.

Awards from the 9th CGD licensing round would help bring gas coverage to 174 districts in 22 states and Union Territories, covering 29 per cent of the country's area and 24 per cent of the population, Pradhan said.

Both the central and state governments have started making up their mind in this regard, he said. Petroleum products are out of GST ambit which was rolled out in July last year.

“India’s refining capacity must increase to about 600 million tonnes by 2040, from about 247 million tonnes currently. We have to add 20 million tonnes in every two-three years to achieve the target,” Pradhan said.

India will send three lakh youth to Japan for on-job training for 3-5 years as part of the government's skill development programme.

The Oil minister said the government will soon come up with a gas trading platform.