Former prime-minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh has said that only the ‘thaw’ in Indo-Pak relations was discussed with the Pakistan Embassy officials who had attended a party at the New Delhi residence of suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar. “We didn’t discuss Gujarat Assembly polls at all,” he said.

Singh was responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusation that the Congress had been discussing with Pakistan (officials) about the Gujarat Assembly polls and wondered what role Pakistan had in elections in an Indian State. Manmohan took on his successor by stating that Modi had been to Pakistan as an ‘uninvited guest’ and has been saying irrelevant things out of fear that the BJP may lose the Assembly polls.

In a statement released yesterday in New Delhi, Singh said “Our actions have always been transparent i nature. The Congress doesn’t need to be lectured by the Prime Minister about what constitutes ‘nationalism’. It was Modi who allowed Pak terrorists into Pathankot Army camp,” and added that Modi has been degrading the office of the Prime Minister. “He owes an apology to the people for doing so,” Singh remarked.

In the meantime, Pakistan has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to involve it in the electoral fight between the BJP and the Congress. Tweeting on his Twitter account, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Mohammed Faizal said that India(ns) should stop involving Pakistan in internal issues and its elections campaigns.  “Instead of blaming Pakistan for everything, try to win elections on our own merit,” he said.