NEW DELHI, May 7: Prime Minister I K Gujral clarified in the Lok Sabha today that the decision to allow refuelling of US aircraft in India in 1991 during the Gulf crisis was not taken when he was in the government.

The issue surfaced during zero hour when BJP member Lal Muni Chaubey referred to a recent Star Plus interview and suggested that the Prime Minister was now ``taking credit'' for the controversial decision to allow refuelling. He then asked: ``Are we now flattering America?''

Regretting that ``some confusion has been caused due to the TV interview,'' Gujral said that when he was foreign minister in the V P Singh Government, ``no permission was sought or given by me to re-fuel (American) aircraft.''

Incidentally, the transcript of the interview shows that Gujral never in fact used the word ``re-fuel.'' Instead, he said: ``I was the minister who allowed the American planes to land here for the first time.'' And that this fact was ``deliberately kept under wraps.''

The ``confusion'' could have arisen when interviewer Vir Sanghvi said: ``So you're saying you're the chap who allowed the refuelling.'' Gujral who may not have heard the reference to refuelling said yes.

However, in a portion that was cut out (as the interview was one hour 10 minutes long and had to be shortened to 25 minutes) Gujral said later: ``Refuelling came exactly when Chandra Shekhar came. I permitted overflights as they were coming from Manila and elsewhere. The Ambassador came to meet me.'' In the House, Gujral pointed to the United Nations resolution after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait to protect the lives of thousands of people of Kuwait. The US Government then approached India to give permission for its aircraft to overfly the Indian airspace. ``The V P Government in which I was the foreign minister, gave permission only to overfly the Indian space,'' Gujral said, adding: ``But when the actual war operation started, there was a change of government in Delhi under Chandra Shekhar. I do not know whether at that time any permission was given.''

Earlier, Chandra Shekhar said it was immaterial who gave the permission for refuelling planes taking part in the Gulf operation. The former Prime Minister, however, maintained that he stood by the decision taken by his Government.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.