Apologise to nation: Singh to Modi

Apologise to nation: Singh to Modi
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Highlights

A huge row broke out today over Prime Minister Narendra Modi\'s insinuation that Manmohan Singh was colluding with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls with the former premier saying Modi was setting a \"dangerous precedent\" and asked he apologise to the nation.

New Delhi: A huge row broke out today over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's insinuation that Manmohan Singh was colluding with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls with the former premier saying Modi was setting a "dangerous precedent" and asked he apologise to the nation.

As Manmohan Singh crossed swords with Modi over his "ill-thought transgression" and rejected his charge as "innuendos and falsehoods", Congress senior spokes­person Anand Sharma accused the Prime Minister of dragging the political discourse to an "unacceptable low" by making statements that harmed the dignity of his post.

Sharma also demanded an apology from Modi. Singh asserted that Gujarat polls were never raised by anyone present at the dinner and the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram wondered whether winning an election was so important that such allegations can be made against a former prime minister and a former Vice President.

Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat on Sunday, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the Assembly polls in the state. The second and final phase of Assembly polls in Gujarat is to be held on December 14. He claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. This was a day before Aiyar's "neech" jibe against Modi that led to his suspension from the party.

Singh issued a statement on Monday, listing those who attended the dinner hosted in honour of the visiting former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. He said besides himself and former vice president Hamid Ansari, others present at Aiyar's dinner hosted for Kasuri, were the Pakistan High Commissioner, Natwar Singh, K S Bajpai, Ajai Shukla, Sharad Sabharwal, Gen Deepak Kapoor, TCA Raghavan, Satinder K Lambah, M K Bhadrakumar, CR Gharekhan, Prem Shankar Jha, Salman Haider and Rahul Khushwant Singh. "None of them could be accused of indulging in any anti- national activities," he said.

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