Modi, Manmohan Singh come face-to-face, shake hands

New Delhi: Having accused his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh of colluding with Pakistan to influence Gujarat assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had an awkward encounter with the former when both the leaders came face to face during a function to commemorate the martyrs of Parliament attack.

Mr Modi and Dr Singh shook hands outside Parliament as they made their way into the House to pay tribute to the people who lost their lives in the 2001 Parliament attack.

Congress president-elect  Rahul Gandhi, who has been engaged in an often present at Parliament and appeared to share some light-hearted moments with Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Later, the Congress released a video of Dr Singh reading out the statement that he had issued on Monday asking Mr Modi to apologise for his utterances against him.

The PM on Sunday had accused Congress leaders including Dr Singh of having a “secret meeting” with a former Pakistan minister and diplomats to ensure a BJP loss in Gujarat.

Dr Singh had lashed out at Mr Modi for allegedly spreading “falsehood and canards” to “score political points in a lost cause”.  

“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 PM. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, the desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable,” he said.

The former Prime Minister sincerely hoped that Mr Modi will show “maturity and gravitas”, as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring “erroneously conceived brownie points”.

“I sincerely hope that he will apologise to the nation for his ill-thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies,” Dr Singh said.