Yegor Ligachev at Kremlin Gala Despite Rumors

Yegor K. Ligachev, the Politburo member rumored to be in political trouble because of his opposition to Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s reform policies, appeared today at a Kremlin gala smiled and chatted amiably with the Soviet leader.

At an evening gathering of the Kremlin leadership to mark the 118th anniversary of the birth of Soviet founder Vladimir I. Lenin, Ligachev filed into the crowded auditorium of the Palace of Congresses in his rightful place.

Ligachev, considered the country’s No. 2 leader, followed General Secretary Gorbachev, President Andrei A. Gromyko and Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov.

Gorbachev and Ligachev sat together at the front of the huge hall and engaged in animated conversation throughout a speech by candidate member of the Politburo Georgy P. Razumovsky. The speech was shown on national television.

Rumors have been spread around the capital this week that Ligachev was reprimanded by Gorbachev at an extraordinary meeting of the 13-man Politburo and stripped of responsibility for ideology and personnel matters--the tasks usually assigned to the second-in-command.

In Traditional Spot

But the party ideologist traditionally follows the premier in the official lineup and Ligachev appeared after Ryzhkov during the gala.

Ligachev, 67, thought to be more conservative than Gorbachev, reportedly believes that glasnost, or Gorbachev’s policy of openness, has gone too far in denouncing most of the economic and social policies of the past.

The formal arena for changing duties among party secretaries would be at a Central Committee plenum. But if Ligachev were in serious political trouble, he would likely take a lower profile until the next plenary meeting.