Senior Congress leader and former prime minister Manmohan Singh today launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the prime minister is spreading "falsehood and canards" in a desperate bid to win the Gujarat elections.
In a hard-hitting statement issued today, Singh denied allegations that he and others were invited to a dinner at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's residence with Pakistani diplomats where they had discussed the Gujarat election.
Asking PM Modi to apologise to the nation, Singh said, "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than ... Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of the prime minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable.”
"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," the Congress leader added.
"I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Aiyar as alleged by Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner," Manmohan Singh said. "The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations."
Singh further said that the “Congress party needs no sermons on ‘Nationalism’ from a party and Prime Minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known.”
Singh also took the opportunity to remind that Modi had gone to Pakistan uninvited after Udhampur and Gurdaspur terror attacks.
“Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan,” he said.
Singh’s statement follows PM Modi allegations at an election rally in Gujarat that guests at Aiyar's house, including Manmohan Singh and former Vice President Hamid Ansari, discussed the Gujarat election with Pakistan's High Commissioner to India and a former Pakistani foreign minister among others.
