PM Modi, Manmohan Singh shake hands after acrimonious Pakistan row

Days after levelling serious charges of colluding with Pakistan against him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met his predecessor Manmohan Singh at an event in Delhi to pay homage to the martyrs of the 2001 Parliament attack.

PM Modi and ex-PM Manmohan Singh greeted each other warmly and even shook hands at the sombre ceremony, held in the Parliament House complex.

The meeting between the two leaders comes three days after PM Modi accused Singh of conspiring with Pakistan to defeat BJP in the Gujarat Assembly polls.

Referring to a dinner hosted by suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, Modi at an election rally in Gujarat had alleged that Aiyar along with former PM Manmohan Singh and ex-Army Chief Deepak Kapoor held a "secret meeting" with ex Pak EAM Khurshid Kasuri to plan BJP's defeat in Gujarat polls.

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Hitting back hard at PM Modi for spreading “falsehoods and canards,” Manmohan Singh asked Modi “to show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds” and apologise.

At the event, newly elected Congress President Rahul Gandhi also met BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and Sushma Swaraj.

On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire.

Five Delhi Police personnel, a woman Central Reserve Police official, two Parliament watch and ward staff, a gardener and a camera person were among those who lost their lives in the attack.