Ex-PM Manmohan Singh slams Modi, asks him to 'apologise' for spreading 'falsehood and canards'

He asked Modi to 'apologise' to the nation.

In a statement released by the ex-PM, he has denied all allegations made by Modi that he and others were invited to a dinner at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's residence with Pakistani diplomats and discussed the Gujarat election.

"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 Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi," Singh said in his statement.

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 said.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent comment on Pakistan and said he should speak more about Gujarat elections and the state's development than about other nations.

Addressing an election rally, Gandhi said: "He keeps speaking about China, Pakistan and Japan. I feel that this is the election of Gujarat state and he should speak about this state and its development too."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegation during his Gujarat poll campaign on Sunday -- that Pakistan was trying to meddle in Gujarat elections -- has given rise to a lot of debate, according to media reports on Monday.

PM Modi raised the issue of the dinner thrown by Mani Shankar Aiyar and suggested that the Congress was conspiring with Pakistani leaders to prevent the BJP from winning the election in Gujarat, where the party has been in power for 22 years, media reported.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, now suspended by his party for his 'neech aadmi' remark, hosted a dinner last week for former Pakistan Foreign Affairs Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's visit, where former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Hamid Ansari,  Pakistan High Commissioner, former foreign minister K Natwar Singh, former Army Chief Deepak Kapoor, former diplomats Salman Haider, Satinder Lambah, TCA Raghavan, Sharat Sabharwal, Chinmaya Gharekhan and senior journalists including Prem Shankar Jha and Rahul Khushwant Singh were among the invitees present.

Chinmaya Gharekhan told NDTV, "It was entirely devoted to talking about relations between India and Pakistan. Inevitably, cross-border terrorism came up and Kashmir came up but no one, I am 100 per cent sure, not a single person talked about either Gujarat elections or the domestic situation in India or for that matter, the domestic situation in Pakistan."

Meanwhile in a tweet on Monday, Pakistan's spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohammad Faisal, said, "India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible."

The Congress has demanded an apology for the charge, media reported.

Rahul Gandhi, commenting on the PM's allegations, said that Prime Minister Modi needs to talk about Gujarat and not Pakistan. He also said that the PM talks about the Congress in half of his speeches, media reports said.

Veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted, "Is winning an election so important that such allegations can be made against a former Prime Minister and a former Vice President?"

However, India's Law Minister, on Monday not only condemned the "unwarranted" statement by Pakistan on Gujarat elections but also said that that it was aimed at bailing out Congress party, according to media reports.