Cong seeks PM's apology afresh for remarks against Manmohan

Armed with an RTI response, the Congress on Saturday sought to revive the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial remarks accusing his predecessor Manmohan Singh of colluding with Pakistan to influence the Gujarat Assembly polls.

The Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said Modi had made the “objectionable” remarks against Singh and former vice president Hamid Ansari based on informal and formal information received from multiple sources.

Khera demanded an apology from the prime minister, wondering how an elected leader who had pledged his allegiance to the Constitution could make remarks based on information received from informal sources.

“What kind of image of India is he creating before the world, especially when every word of the prime minister is analysed the world over. We deserve a better and a healthier narrative. He should apologise to the country,” the Congress spokesman said.

The Congress had stalled the Winter Session of Parliament over Modi’s remarks and demanded an apology. The then finance minister Arun Jaitley had expressed regret in the Rajya Sabha over Modi’s remarks and underscored that he held Manmohan Singh in high esteem.

The Congress cited an RTI query posed by a party sympathiser seeking to know the sources of the information used by the prime minister to make his remarks at a rally in Palanpur on December 10 last year.

PMO defends

“The information sought pertains to the prime minister speaking during a political campaign. The information sought does not relate to a political matter or a decision of the government. So with regard to the prime minister, he is entitled to receive informal or formal information from multiple sources,” Khera quoted the reply given by the Prime Minister’s Office to the RTI plea.

Khera alleged that the prime minister has developed a habit of raising the issue of Mumbai attacks to mastermind Hafiz Saeed when he loses elections but forgets to talk about the plight of farmers, small traders or unemployment.