Randeep Surjewala of the Congress party, addressing the media, said that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a "very decent" man who had to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "lies".
Addressing an election rally in Palanpur, Gujarat on 10 December, Modi suggested that Pakistan was trying to influence assembly polls in the state.
The Prime Minister claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on 6 December – a day before Aiyar's "neech" jibe against Modi – to discuss the upcoming elections.
Surjewala alleged that Modi was getting angrier by the day, and that he was not maintaining the “decorum” of his post. He claimed that no Prime Minister had told such “lies” in the last 70 years.
The Congress spokesperson added that Singh was "far more seasoned, learned and experienced than the present Prime Minister".
Surjewala, reading out Singh’s statement, demanded answers from the Prime Minister regarding his “uninvited” visit to Pakistan, following the Gurdaspur and Udhampur attacks.
“Is Winning Elections So Important?”
Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign for the BJP in Gujarat had gone "beyond bizarre" and asked whether a political party should go to any length to win an election.
The former union finance and home minister also wondered whether winning an election was so important that "such allegations" can be made against a former prime minister and a former vice president.
The BJP’s campaign in Gujarat in the last few days, especially yesterday, has gone beyond bizarre. Should a political party go to any length to win an election?P Chidambaram
Though Modi did not name the ex-vice president present at the meeting, BJP president Amit Shah said in Ahmedabad that it was Hamid Ansari.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)