Explain meeting with Pak diplomats: Jaitley

New Delhi, December 11

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday demanded to know what happened at a meeting held between Congress leaders and Pakistani diplomats, hours after the Congress condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “insinuations” that the party was taking Pakistan’s assistance to interfere with the ongoing Gujarat Assembly elections.

After former prime minister Manmohan Singh called Modi’s allegations “canards and falsehoods” made fearing “imminent defeat in Gujarat”, Jaitley — a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Patry — responded saying that the meeting was a "misadventure" of former prime minister Singh and other Congress leaders with Pakistani diplomat that the party must explain.

“Congress must come out with detailed facts what transpired in that meeting and what was the necessity of having it in present circumstances.Yesterday they were in denial about it and today instead of accepting it as a misadventure, they try to blame those raising the issue,” he said.

“Former PM Manmohan Singh has issued a statement asking PM Modi to apologise for what he said in an election rally with regard to a meeting involving Pakistani delegations. It is surprising that Congress party expect the Prime Minister of India to apologise for it,” he said.  

“No govt in the past has track record that this govt has had in fighting terrorism,” he said, addressing Singh’s allegations that the Prime Minister chose to pay Pakistan a surprise visit in December 2015 despite two militant attacks — in Gurdaspur (July 2015) and Udhampur (August 2015) — earlier that year.

Singh said in a statement that he was “pained and anguished at the canards and falsehoods” that his successor Modi was “spreading to score political points”. He was referring to the Prime Minister’s statements that Congress leaders — including Singh and suspended Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar —  met Pakistan diplomats at Aiyar’s house on December 6 to collude to "interfere" with Gujarat elections.

Congress has since clarified that the meeting was held to discuss relations between India and Pakistan. Besides Singh and Aiyar, former vice-president Hamid Ansari, senior journalists and Pakistani diplomats attended the meeting.

Also on Monday, Pakistan asked India to stop dragging in into the latter's domestic politics. — Agencies