NEW DELHI: Under pressure from within his party on the controversial issue of his recent parleys with Bal Thackeray in the wake of former prime minister V.P. Singh’s open expression of disapproval, Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda is understood to have apologized to senior party leaders who met him August 26.

Speaking to a group of minority leaders from the party Monday morning, who conveyed to him the negative signals that his visit to the Shiv Sena chief in Mumbai had sent to the Front’s ant communal electorate, Mr. Gowda is believed to have confessed that he had no idea that his action would be received so adversely.

A Dal leader from the minority community who was present at the meeting said: “He was extremely apologetic and told us that he had no idea that his action of openly condoling the bereavement suffered by Mr. Thackeray would cause such anguish.” The leaders are also understood to have regretted the fact that an office bearer of the Samajwadi Party had facilitated the meeting with Mr. Thackeray, uncaring of the fact that the party, headed by Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, was expected to lead the challenge against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the forthcoming assembly polls. The prime minister, it is understood, maintained “Had I known this, I would have exercised more discretion.”

Significantly, Mr. Gowda’s apologies on the Thackeray issue come in the immediate wake of the Janata Dal ideologue V.P. Singh’s tour on Sunday to Mumbai, where he made no move to hide his displeasure with Mr. Gowda’s move by visiting the widow of Ramesh Kini, who has directly alleged the hand of Mr. Thackeray’s kin in her husband’s death. Preempting any possible move by the Front government to put forward the demand for a CBI enquiry into the issue on the backburner, Mr. Singh publicly endorsed the probe by the agency, thereby openly joining issue with Mr. Gowda.

The issue also caused embarrassment to Union civil aviation and tourism minister, C.M. Ibrahim, during a recent public meeting at Mubarakpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr. Ibrahim is understood to have been grilled by members of the minority community on his role in the meeting between Mr. Gowda and the Shiv Sena chief.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 28, 1996