New Delhi, Jun 7 (Agencies) : A man threatened Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi with a shoe at a press conference here on Monday.

The latter quickly dubbed it as a pre-planned attack.Dwivedi was busy slamming yoga guru Ramdev and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Congress headquarters here when the incident took place in the full view of TV cameras. It is the latest in a string of shoe-related assaults on public figures in India.

The man came very near to the dais where Dwivedi was sitting and waved the shoe at him. But Dwivedi pushed him away. Soon a security guard caught him and journalists present also pounced on the man, who was then whisked away by security men.

After he was put in a vehicle and possibly taken to the nearest police station, the Congress leader continued with his address to the media.

He described the attempt to hit him with a shoe as 'pre-planned'.

Congress leaders react

"The man seems to be an RSS activist. I have asked the police commissioner to thoroughly question the attacker and find out his antecedents." - Digvijay Singh, Congress gen secy

"It was very obvious that the same communal and divisive forces who were behind the (Ramdev) agitation have planned this attack." - Jayanti Natarajan, Congress spokesperson