Speaking in his first interview to an Indian TV channel after becoming PM, Singh told NDTV's Maya Mirchandani that Advani should not complain as he was the one who started the mudslinging, calling him the weakest prime minister the country has ever seen.

"Mr Advani started the mudslinging. He has no business to complain," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said that Advani had been calling him a 'nikamma' prime minister, subservient to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

"It's only now that I have replied to that sort of mudslinging," he said.

Prime Minister accused the Leader of Opposition of being engaged in mudslinging for the last five years.

The Congress has in the recent past taken the attacks of Advani on the Prime Minister head on. The top party leadership, including the Prime Minister, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and chairperson Sonia Gandhi, has been attacking the saffron party leader.

The PM had earlier in a press conference said, "Weakness or strength doesn't come from loud speaking, it comes from determination in tougher times. Look at the response of the government when the plane was hijacked and our response to 26/11. If u look at what Advani said on Walk the Talk on NDTV in an interview to Mr Shekhur Gupta he said that he didn't know about the Kandahar episode. What does that tell you about his control?"

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on his part, had said: "When Kandahar happened, the terrorist who was released went and carried out numerous attacks. Mr Advani stated that he did not know of the flight to Kandahar of Jaswant Singh or the three people being released.
"If he was such a strong leader how could the Home Minister not know something so fundamental. There are only two possibilities: That his leader did not trust him or he was not telling the truth."