NEW DELHI: The former external affairs minister I K Gujral Tuesday strongly refuted allegations that the National Front government had reached an agreement with the United States on refueling of war planes.
Reacting to charges by the Congress-I that the decision to allow refueling of U.S military aircraft in India was taken by the former V.P.Singh government in September last year Gujral said: I feel sad that our internal politics should have reached this stage that such statements are made to confuse the public opinion.”
He said the Cong-I was just trying to get out of a “jam in which it finds itself stuck.”
Janata Dal president S R Bommaj said the decision was disturbing and confusing and described it as a clever Congress ploy as no minority government would dare to undertake such adventures in diplomacy without his (Rajiv Gandhi’s) explicit clearance.
Iraq has launched a strong protest with the foreign office over the permission given to the US planes. The country’s ambassador Abdul Wadood Sheikhly said such an action was unacceptable from a friendly country like India.
Leaders of Delhi units of Janata Dal CPI and CPIM have accused the government of “toeing the line of US imperialism”.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991
