Rahul146;s Bihar bombshell rocks Congress

Scrambling to tackle the possible political fallout of Rahul Gandhi8217;s remarks to Tehelka weekly, where he slammed the lack of governanc...

Scrambling to tackle the possible political fallout of Rahul Gandhi8217;s remarks to Tehelka weekly, where he slammed the lack of governance in Bihar and UP, the Congress said today that the 8216;8216;write-up8217;8217; contained several 8216;8216;mis-representations8217;8217;.

According to party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi, 8216;8216;Rahul Gandhi would like to categorically state that he did not give any interview. The write-up projected as an interview contains several mis-representations and mis-quotations. In any event, they arose from a casual conversation.8217;8217;

Asked if Rahul8217;s observations on Bihar were correct, Singhvi said he could not field this question. 8216;8216;Each sentence cannot be dissected,8217;8217; he said, adding that 8216;8216;we need more time8217;8217; to come out with a correct version.

Bihar goes to polls next month, where Congress has tied up with key UPA ally, Laloo Prasad Yadav8217;s RJD.

Singhvi met reporters after party general secretary Ambika Soni8212;in charge of its media department8212;held a meeting of her entire team to formulate a response.

Singhvi said that Rahul would like to reiterate that in this 8216;8216;so-called interview8217;8217;, he never said that he could have been Prime Minister at the young age of 25. 8216;8216;This and numerous other things have been incorrectly reported and are being refuted outright,8217;8217; the spokesman said, quoting the MP from Amethi.

In remarks attributed to Rahul Tehelka, he had said that there is 8216;8216;no trace of governance8217;8217; in UP and Bihar, which is now under Central rule.

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8216;You can travel right across these two states but you won8217;t find a trace of governance here8230; There is no functioning government in UP and Bihar and so there is no governance. There is a total collapse of the administrative system in these states. Nothing happens here,8217;8217; Rahul was quoted as saying.

Visit Patna first: RJD to Rahul

NEW DELHI: Laloo Prasad Yadav8217;s RJD has slammed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi8217;s remarks on the lack of administration in Bihar, saying any decline had happened during his party8217;s rule.

8216;8216;The Bihar downfall has started from the Congress8217;s time when Jagannath Mishra was CM between 1985 and 1995,8217;8217; said party spokesman Sanjay Paswan.

8216;8216;We are allies and if there is lawlessness and a breakdown of administration, we should work together to work out a solution,8217;8217; he added. Paswan said Gandhi should take a trip to Bihar to assess the situation. 8216;8216;We don8217;t agree with his remarks. He should come and see for himself,8217;8217; he added.