High drama at AICC; man tries to hurl shoe at Dwivedi

New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) High drama was witnessed at the
AICC headquarters here on Monday when a person posing as a
journalist tried to attack party General Secretary Janardhan
Dwivedi with a shoe, apparently miffed over the treatment
meted out to Indian yoga guru Ramdev.
The person, who was carrying an identification as
Sunil Kumar of Nav-Sanchar Patrika from Rajasthan, came close
to Dwivedi, removed his shoe and stopped short of hitting him
with it.
The middle-aged man, wearing a striped T-shirt, was
heard telling Dwivedi that "you cannot stop us from asking
questions."
The man was immediately caught by the a AICC staffer
and some journalists and was removed from the briefing hall
while being beaten up. He was then taken away by police.
Dwivedi described the incident as "pre-planned" attack
as he was to speak against Ramdev and his agitation which
Congress leader said was conducted at the behest of Sangh
Parivar.
"Whatever, I said has been proved by this one man. Had
this (attack) not been orchestrated, the person would not have
asked favourable questions so that there were no doubts," he
said. Reacting to the development, Congress spokesperson Manish
Tewari said, "It is obvious that there is an element of
frustration and desperation among the Sangh Parivar. But I
can't confirm whether the man belongs to RSS or BJP."
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh alleged
the attacker was an RSS member.
"The man seems to be an RSS activist," he said.
When asked as to how he can confirm that the attacker was
an RSS activist, Singh claimed his ID card was found in his
bag.
Singh said he has spoken to the Delhi police commissioner
and asked him to find the antecedents of the person, including
the organisation he belongs to. "I have asked the police
commissioner to thoroughly question the attacker," he said.
Another party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, "It
was very obvious that the same communal and divisive forces
who were behind the agitation (supporting Ramdev) have planned
this attack."
According to eyewitnesses, the attacker was sitting in
the second row of the right side of the podium from where the
press conference was being addressed. As the press conference
was inching towards an end, the man got from his seat and went
closer to the exit door from where he asked a question whether
Congress was happy that the Opposition is weak in the country.
Dwivedi answered nobody should ever be in the
misconception that there is no Opposition. However, the man
was heard murmuring that his question was not answered.
As the press conference was about to conclude, the
attacker took out one of his shoes and climbed on the stage
and rushed towards Dwivedi. He was, however, overpowered by
Congress workers and journalists.