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Participating in Karan Thapar's programme Line of Fire for Sabe TV to be telecast on Saturday, Nirupam said "I should, in fact, seek an apology from those investors who feel cheated and for whom I wanted to fight."
Reiterating his demand for an inquiry into the possible involvement of a former Prime Minister's Office official in the Unit Trust of India fiasco, Nirupam said, "The BJP was pressurising my leader and I cannot disobey my boss. He said there is pressure and you just go ahead (with apology), and I also never intended to hurt the prime minister."
The Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP said though he was not certain about Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's role in the UTI affair, 'he (Sinha) ignored' the concerns expressed by him and other parliamentarians.
"I cannot ask for his resignation. The prime minister can do so," Nirupam said.
"If the country's youth has to apologise for speaking the truth then, forget about the government, the future of the entire nation is in danger," he said.
He refused to blame previous Congress government's for the mess. "They (Congress) were removed because of their transgressions, but if we repeat it then we are no different."
"Peoples' perception about the government is not good," Nirupam said adding it was so especially because the BJP came to power on the plank of 'high standards in public life and transparency in governance'.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Iyer, who was also participating in the programme, said Sinha had been ignoring nearly 280 recommendations submitted by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) regarding irregularities in the financial sector.
Iyer was a member of that JPC.
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