Don't drag us into your elections: Pak on Modi accusing Cong of collusion

New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that Pakistan was interfering in the Gujarat elections and accused the Congress of colluding with Pakistan to defeat the BJP in the Gujarat polls, Islamabad on Monday hit back and asked not to be dragged into electoral debates.

Islamabad further said Modi's allegations - of a recent "secret three-hour meeting" attended by Congress and Pakistani officials - are "fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible".

Pakistan’s foreign affairs spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal tweeted

While addressing an election rally in Gujarat’s Palanpur on Sunday, Modi raised questions over an alleged appeal by former director-general of Pakistan army, Sardar Arshad Rafiq, on making senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel the chief minister of Gujarat.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, hit out at Modi. 

Read: Pakistan trying to fix Gujarat polls, says Modi

“It’s a foregone conclusion that he has abdicated the politics of development in both action and words. But does it befit the stature of the Prime Minister to rely on canards, rumours & lies just for an election? This is very sad,” Patel tweeted.

Attacking suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar who recently called him neech, Modi said, “There were media reports about a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar’s house. It was attended by Pakistan’s high commissioner, Pakistan’s former foreign minister, India’s former vice-president and former PM Manmohan Singh. The meeting at Aiyar’s house went on for almost three hours.”

“The next day, Mani Shankar Aiyar said ‘Modi is neech’. This is a serious matter,” he said.

Though Modi did not name the former vice-president present at the meeting at Aiyar’s house, BJP president Amit Shah said in Ahmedabad that it was Hamid Ansari. 

This isn’t the first time the BJP is referring to Pakistan in an election campaign. Last year, ahead of the Assam election, the BJP said if the Congress won, fireworks would go off in celebration in Pakistan.

The Congress on Sunday termed as "baseless" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegation that its top party leaders recently met the Pakistani envoy and an ex-Pakistani minister and said he made the charge as he was worried about the BJP's impending defeat in Gujarat Assembly elections.

"Holding the country's topmost post, Modiji is making baseless allegations. Modiji is worried, dejected, angry. Such a statement has no truth or fact, and is based on lies. Such a behaviour is unbecoming of a prime minister," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. 

"The entire country knows who loves Pakistan and who has been giving protection to the separatists," Surjewala alleged.

Read: Mani Shankar Aiyar had gone to Pakistan to give my 'supari', alleges Modi

The Congress spokesperson asked Modi that if he planned to contest the elections on Pakistan-related issues, then he should also tell the people of Gujarat as to why he "trusted Pakistani spy agency ISI and offered it entry to Pathankot Airforce Base for investigation".

Surjewala also questioned Modi's "unplanned" Pakistan visit to attend the wedding of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's granddaughter, soon after "Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks at Gurdaspur and Udhampur".

Surjewala also alleged that the Modi government failed to arrest Pakistan-based terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's wife, who "managed to reach Mumbai from Pakistan and then fly back to Pakistan".

"We would also like to ask him as to why no action was taken against former minister in the BJP government in Maharashtra Eknath Khadse, who was removed after Indian agencies taped his conversation with Dawood Ibrahim," he said.

With inputs from PTI.