New Delhi: A decade after raking up her foreign origin issue, NCP leader P A Sangma said on Friday that he had apologised to Congress President Sonia Gandhi for it.
"I told her I am sorry for what had happened 10 years ago. I wanted to apologise for what had happened," Sangma, who had a meeting with Gandhi few days back, told reporters.
The former Lok Sabha Speaker, who along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar parted ways with Congress on Gandhi's foreign origin issue, said that Gandhi was "very gracious" and remarked "past is past, forget it."
Sangma, who met Gandhi to invite her for his son Conrad's wedding reception, said she has agreed to attend it.
The NCP co-founder said that foreign origin was "no longer an issue" but replied in the negative when asked whether his party would merge with the Congress.
"My daughter is a UPA minister and we are giving full support to the government," Sangma said.
Asked about Sangma's remarks, NCP spokesman D P Tripathi said these meetings between UPA leaders was a welcome trend and should continue.
Sangma's statement comes at a time when the NCP is set to complete 10 years and there have been suggestions from many Congress leaders that separate existence of NCP was not required.
With Maharashtra assembly elections round the corner, Congress leaders like Vilasrao Deshmukh have been demanding that the decade-old alliance with NCP be severed.