A day after publicly asserting that he had no differences with Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is understood to have categorically told expelled party leader Madan Lal Khurana on Monday to apologise to Advani if he wanted his return into the party fold.
Vajpayee, who had sparked off a crisis in the BJP by publicly criticising Advani's decision to expel Khurana, is believed to have told the latter that there cannot be any 'compromise with discipline' and he will have to make amends if the party is to reconsider the action against him, party sources said.
The former prime minister is also understood to have counselled Khurana to stop airing his views and grievances through the media, they said. Khurana had attacked the party's 'emerging leadership' on Saturday for 'attempting to displace the old guard'.
An apparently sullen Khurana did not speak to waiting mediapersons after his 40-minute meeting with Vajpayee on Monday. After receiving the formal expulsion order, he had charged a section of the party leadership on Sunday with 'conspiring' against him.
The sources said while Vajpayee continued to believe that Khurana should be given one more opportunity to explain his stand, that was subject to his tendering an apology for making public statements against Advani.
BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan, who was present at Vajpayee's residence during the meeting, claimed he was not present during the talks between Khurana and Vajpayee.
Senior party leaders Jaswant Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu also met Advani earlier in the day as part of efforts to find a solution to the crisis in the party.