Rahul in US to attend conference in Aspen, Cong and BJP in war of words

Rahul Gandhi’s trip to the US fuelled a war of words between rival parties on Wednesday with BJP wryly saying it may be a “forced vacation” linked to Bihar poll campaign, inviting sharp retort from Congress which accused it of spreading “patent lies” and “canards”. The Congress said the party vice-president had gone to the US to attend a conference ‘Weekend with Charlie Rose’ at Aspen Institute in Colorado.

Hitting back at BJP, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was spreading “petty canards” as it was foreseeing its “imminent loss” in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.

“Rahul Gandhi is travelling to Aspen, <g data-gr-id="19">US</g> on a short visit to attend a conference. ‘Weekend with Charlie Rose’ is a conference where thought leaders from different walks of life like politics, finance, technology, media, medicine, sports etc gather to deliberate on multiple issues,” Surjewala said.

His remarks came after BJP spokesman Sambit Patra took a dig at Rahul over his visit to the US, saying it may be a “forced vacation” as, according to him, allies JD(U) and RJD wanted him out of the Bihar poll campaign. Surjewala said BJP is seeing its “imminent loss” in Bihar elections and spreading of “petty canards” is being resorted to like RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat calling for review of reservation and BJP spokesperson “shooting themselves in the foot by spreading patent lies.”