New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS): A man threw ink on Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia outside Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's office on Monday in what the AAP alleged was a planned attack.
Sisodia was speaking with journalists after meeting Jung when the man, identified as Brijesh Shukla, sneaked up and quickly threw the ink from a bottle he was holding.
The ink scattered mostly on Sisodia's left arm and a part of his face, taking the Deputy Chief Minister by surprise.
When reporters asked the attacker the reason for the ink attack, he responded: "People are dying in Delhi and you (Sisodia) prefer to go on a foreign (Finland) jaunt."
Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, went to Finland to study the country's highly acclaimed educational system.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders expressed surprise that no policeman was present at the site at the time of the ink attack.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's media adviser Nagendar Sharma sought to know how the ink attacker knew that Sisodia would meet Jung.
"Why anger is not directed at BJP's MCD? Why no ink is thrown at BJP's MCD mayors and councillors?" Sharma asked in a tweet.
Later, in another tweet, Sharma said: "Ink attack against Sisodia was planned Sunday night. Messages were sent to media from mobile 98103 60022 in advance."
Shukla was said to be a resident of Karawal Nagar in north-east Delhi.
Sisodia said later that while his government was working on ways to improve the health and education sectors, the BJP and Congress continued to indulge in "cheap politics" with ink attacks.
AAP leader Dilip Pandey blamed Jung for the incident.
"Wah LG Sa'ab. You have already unleashed the ACB, CBI and police on us, now you have started getting ink thrown (on our leaders) through your goons," he tweeted.
Another AAP leader, Kumar Vishwas, a long-time friend of Sisodia, remarked sarcastically that this was perhaps the "fake nationalists'" way of avenging the Sunday terror attack in Kashmir.
Jung on Friday sent a fax to Sisodia in Finland and asked him to return immediately owing to the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in the capital, but the AAP leader returned only as scheduled on Sunday.
Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra said the ink attacker, Shukla, had in 2003 contested assembly elections in Delhi as an independent and also had a criminal record.