Shoe Attack: Advani faces party worker's ire

SHOE GATE: Advani on stage at a BJP rally in Katni, MP. (Inset) The wooden sandal thrown at him.

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Bhopal: A former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office-bearer Thursday created a sensation by throwing a wooden slipper at senior party leader LK Advani when the latter was going up on stage to address a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh.

The man, identified as Pawas Agarwal, threw a 'khadaun' or slipper made of wood at Advani, saying he was "a fake iron man" and did not deserve to be the BJP's prime ministerial aspirant.

The incident took place in Katni district, 350 km from here.

The slipper missed Advani, but he became the latest victim of a series of 'shoe-throwing' incidents in the country. A former Katni district president of the BJP, Agarwal was taken into custody by police.

He said the BJP should project some other leader as its prime ministerial candidate.

Agarwal told mediapersons that Advani was "nakli Lauh Purush" (a fake iron man).

"He has no ideology. On the one hand he asks for votes in the name of Ram and on the other hand pays obeisance to (Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali) Jinnah," he said.

On why he did not raise the issue at a party platform, Agarwal said: "None of the party leaders had the courage to communicate these feelings because they too were not allowed to speak."

Rival Congress was quick to react. Party general secretary Arvind Malviya said in Bhopal: "It was the result of the BJP's double speak and its intention to exploit public sentiments in the name of religion."

Earlier this month, Home Minister P Chidambaram and then Congress MP Naveen Jindal were also targeted by people who wanted to express their anger by throwing footwear at these politicians.