Manmohan Singh rubbishes claims of colluding with Pak to fix Gujarat polls

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Monday quashed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accusation about the former's clandestine meeting with Pakistani officials, and expressed 'anguish' at 'the canards being spread' by the latter.

"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, Sh. Narender Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," Singh said in an official statement.

In one of his campaign rallies yesterday, Prime Minister Modi alleged Pakistan's interference in the Gujarat elections. Claiming that Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former vice president Hamid Ansari met with Pakistan's High Commissioner and Foreign Minister at Aiyar's house just before the elections, the Prime Minister sought an explanation from the opposition.

Terming it a lie, Singh issued a clarification as follows, "I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Shri Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner."

The former prime minister, in turn raked up Prime Minister Modi's visit to Pakistan after the terror attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur, and sought explanation from him for the same.

"Let me remind Sh. Narender Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. 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," the statement read.

Calling out the Prime Minister's "compromised track record on fighting terrorism," Singh said that his own track record over last five decades cannot be questioned by the former "to gain lost political ground."

Singh also demanded an apology from the Prime Minister for the grave accusation made by him

"I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," Singh added.