A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi charged his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, with conspiring with Pakistan to install Ahmed Patel as the chief minister of Gujarat, the Congress leader demanded an apology and said he was “deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause”.
Singh also hit back at Modi, accusing him of a “compromised track record on fighting terrorism”. The former PM questioned the rationale behind Modi’s “uninvited” trips to Pakistan after terror attacks at Udhampur and Gurdaspur.
At an election rally in north Gujarat on Sunday, Modi had accused Singh of secretly meeting Pakistani officials at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s residence, a day before the latter termed the Prime Minister ‘neech’ [a lowly person].” “There were media reports about a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar’s house in which Pakistan’s High Commissioner, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister [Khurshid Kasuri], India’s former Vice-President [Hamid Ansari] and former prime minister Manmohan Singh were present,” Modi had said.
Responding to the accusation, Singh said: “Sadly and regrettably, Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former Prime Minister and Army chief”.
Singh also released the list of members who attended the dinner party, which was preceded by a discussion on Pakistan. Former Army chief General (Retd) Deepak Kapoor, former High Commissioners to Pakistan K Natwar Singh, Sharad Sabharwal, KS Bajpai, Satinder Lambah and TCA Raghavan had also participated in the programme.
He maintained that his track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to all. “No one, including Modi, can lamely question it to gain lost political ground. I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations,” he said.
“I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points. I sincerely hope that he will apologise to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies,” Singh added.