At present the 20 per cent royalty on crude oil and gas purchased from Gujarat is paid in cash. The Chief Minister, in his statement, had demanded that instead of cash the Centre should pay in kind.

Vaghela said, "When in power we had also demanded that the Centre paid royalty on gas and crude oil purchased from Gujarat in kind and not in cash." He added that "we would be happy if the present Keshubhai Patel government accepts the formula of the previous RJP government." He also assured the State government his party's unqualified support if the former raised its demand at an all-party meet or sought to make an issue out of it.

Vaghela said, during his tenure as the Gujarat chief minister, he had made several representations regarding theroyalty issue before the then prime ministers I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda. Moreover, the issue was also raised in the inter-state development conference by the then Industry minister in the RJP government Dilip Parikh.

Stating that the royalty policy is generally reviewed after every three years, the RJP chief said during his chief ministership he also represented before the Centre that considering the actual cost of crude oil and gas Gujarat should get Rs 150 crore more for the raw material purchased from the State during the previous three years.

He said, RJP's principal demand from the Centre was to provide 20 per cent of the amount of crude and gas drilled from our land.