Tharoor meets Sonia Gandhi over "Holy Cow" tweet controversy

New Delhi, Sept 22 (ANI): Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Congress President Sonia Gandhi here today and is reported to have discussed his "cattle class" comment on the social network site Twitter.

Tharoor is also scheduled to meet the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, this evening where he will inform about his trip to Liberia and Ghana.

According to sources, he is expected to present his point of view on his comment to Dr. Singh, who had earlier said that it was just a joke and should be looked at in a light hearted manner.

"(Tharoor"s) comment was just a joke," said the Prime Minister.

Tharoor, who was on an official visit to Liberia, had earlier apologized through the Twitter medium, saying he was "sorry" for hurting any sentiments and that his words had been misunderstood.

"To those hurt by the belief that my repeating the phrase showed contempt: sorry. It's a silly expression, but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstood," Tharoor said.

The Minister said that he had learned belatedly of the fuss "over my tweet and pointed out that the phrase "cattle class" was used in the query, which he just repeated. (ANI)