"RSS has denied that any such statement was made (by Bhagwat). I cannot respond to a statement manufactured by a section of the media," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said on queries over Bhagwat's reported statement to some foreign correspondents.
The RSS chief's remarks had added grist to the mill on the Nitish Kumar versus Narendra Modi debate.
"Bihar, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh to some extent, MP to some extent, some parts of Maharashtra," he responded, according to one of those present at the interaction.
Asked "Bihar first", he said, "aisa log kahte hain (this is what people say)."
When asked to comment on this, RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya merely said, "the story about Shri Mohanji Bhagwat doing rounds in media today is totally false."