It is not Congress's tradition to abuse opposition: Rahul

Following the controversy over Congress candidate from Saharanpur Imran Masood's threatening remark against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said it is the tradition of the Congress to respond to the opposition in a respectful manner even if they abuse them.

"Some months ago, our candidate used harsh words for the opposition candidate. This is not the tradition of the Congress Party. No matter what the opposition says about us, we will always respond respectfully," Rahul said in a rally in Saharanpur district.

Earlier, Masood's wife addressed the rally and said that her husband has been falsely implicated in the case.

Taking over the BJP campaign which is centralized over the Gujarat model, Rahul said: "The Bharatiya Janata Party had released a balloon in the name of India Shining. But it failed. When Dhoom became hit, they released the second part called Dhoom 2. Similarly, the BJP again presented their failed film in 2009. Again, their film fared poorly."

"After both the films failed, the BJP has released another balloon in the name of 'Gujarat model' this time. But again their balloon will burst when the people of this country will press the button on the voting machine," he added.

He said the Congress had worked for the betterment of the poor. He said that it was mentioned in the party manifesto in 2004 and in 2009 also.