New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to the nation for alleging that he was conspiring with Pakistan for BJP’s defeat in the Gujarat polls.

Rejecting the charge as “innuendos and falsehoods”, Singh said he was deeply pained by the prime minister’s “ill thought transgression”.

Addressing an election rally in Palanpur, Gujarat, yesterday, Modi suggested that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state.

He claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s house over dinner on December 6. This was a day before Aiyar’s “neech” jibe against Modi.

Singh issued a statement today, listing those who attended the dinner, and stressed that the election was not discussed during the meeting.

“I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi.

“I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the Nation for his ill-thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies,” Singh said in the statement.