Regret my comments against Gowda, KPCC chief

BANGALORE: A day after his searing personal attack with "poison" barb at former Prime Minister and JDS chief H D Deve Gowda, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Chief G Parameshwara today expressed regret over his comments.

"....no I didn't mean that. I just made that statement very casually...some sort of joke kind of a thing.. a cross reference, but I didn't mean that he (Gowda) should take poison and die...," Parameshwara told reporters here after releasing Kannada version of the party's manifesto.

"He (Gowda) is a very senior politician in the country, former Prime Minister; I wish him more number of years. Let him live happy and healthy life," he said.

"We do need him in politics, if at all I have hurt his feelings...I express my regret, I didn't mean anything, I didn't mean that he should die. I pray to give him more than hundred years," he added.

Stoking a controversy with a no-holds barred personal attack on Gowda, Parameshwara had yesterday taunted the JDS supremo over his alleged remark in the past that he would consume poison if his party did not win Assembly elections.

"Just nine months back, the senior Gowda had said we (JDS) will come to power in Karnataka on our own. He had said that if we don't come to power on our own, I will consume poison and die. I am also waiting that he will take it today or tomorrow. He is not taking it," Parameshwara had said.

"This was kind of small aberration; I don't think one should take this kind of thing so seriously," the KPCC Chief said. "Otherwise any politician if he makes a statement, if one takes it so seriously...I think then there is no politics."