Masood controversy: Rahul cancels Saharanpur rally

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi cancelled his scheduled rally in Saharanpur today in the wake of party candidate Imran Masood's arrest for his controversial remark against Narendra Modi.

"Rahul Gandhi's rally is being postponed. The next date for it will be decided later on," CLP leader Pradeep Mathur said.

The decision to cancel the rally comes after Masood was arrested by police for allegedly threatening to chop BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Modi "into pieces".

A video footage of the election rally in Saharanpur, showing Masood attacking the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate, had gone viral on the web.

The Congress candidate was seen in the video as saying that "If Modi tries to make Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat, then we will chop him into tiny pieces...I am not scared of getting killed or attacking someone. I will fight against Modi. He thinks UP is Gujarat. Only 4 per cent Muslims are there in Gujarat while there are 42 per cent Muslims in UP."

Congress had distanced itself from Masood's remark, saying it abjures violence whether of language or otherwise while BJP condemned it as inflammatory and dragged Congress President Sonia Gandhi into the controversy. The BJP also demanded strict action against Masood by the Election Commission.