The attack on Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar here on Wednesday sparked a war of words between the Congress and the BJP.
The Congress blamed the incident on the former Minister, Yashwant Sinha, who had on Tuesday warned that people would take to violence against the government's inaction on inflation.
While strongly condemning the incident, BJP's Sushma Swaraj, however, said the Congress suggestion that Mr. Sinha's remarks were responsible for the action was “not appropriate.''
There were reports of NCP workers taking to the streets in parts of Maharashtra, where Mr. Pawar's party shares power with the Congress.
Political leaders and Ministers made a beeline for Mr. Pawar's residence to inquire about his safety. Among them were Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Farooq Abdullah; the former Speaker, Manohar Joshi; former Ministers, Jaswant Singh and Rajnath Singh; and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. Supriya Sule, MP, too rushed to her father's side.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh were among those who criticised the assault.
Seeking an inquiry into the matter, Mr. Deshmukh said tackling price rise was not the responsibility of just one person. “It is the responsibility of the entire United Progressive Alliance government.''
However, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari had strong words of criticism for activist Anna Hazare for his alleged “just one slap'' comment.
“There is nothing Gandhian about violence,'' he retorted when asked to comment on the observation.
In his first reaction, Mr. Hazare had wondered whether it was “just one slap'' when he was informed about the attack.
Even Mr. Pawar, when asked about Mr. Hazare's comment, said wryly: “I have nothing to say about this new form of Gandhiwadi interpretation.''
