BANGLORE, India: In India, an opposition leader Rama Krishna Hegde has described as a clear interference in the internal affairs by India the views expressed by Mikhail Gorbachev on political situation of India. VOA correspondent Ravi Khanna has been to Bangalore where he interviewed the Cheif Minister of southern Karnataka State Mr. Hegde.

The Janata Party leader Heghe said, if the Indian people realized that the Prime Minister is striving to remain in power with the help of the Soviet Union, his staunch supporters will also get disappointed. The issue erupted when the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev told reporters in Moscow during the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s stay there that he expected the present political crisis in India would be solved soon. Apparently his indication was towards the political problems being faced by Mr. Rajiv Gandhi these days. One of the problems is that the government officials received bribes in the purchase of defense equipment. The Chief Minister, Mr. Hegde said that directly or indirectly the Soviet Union had no right to interfere in the internal politics of India. He said he has always favored good relations with all world powers Including the Soviet Union. Regarding aid from the Soviet he said that the Soviet Union has done a lot and we are thankful for that. But he believes that none has the night to interfere in the internal affairs of India. The Opposition leader said the political situation of the country was affected by uncertainty and disturbances. He said the people have become disappointed with the attitude of Rajiv Gandhi’s government but the difficulty is that they do not find any alternative. He said, had there been any other political party of the Congress level, it should have been ‘a matter of ‘satisfaction for the Indian people that there is a party to whom they can delegate powers. If any disturbance takes place in the Congress. One difficulty is that the Opposition in India is divided/and the other is that there are widespread disturbances in the country. Mr. Hakede said that the opposition parties had recently tried to unite to remove the Congress Party from power.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 7, 1987