Congress condemns shoe-throwing incident

The Congress on Sunday condemned the shoe-throwing incident at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's election rally in Ahmedabad, saying this was a brand of devalued politics.

"We have been consistent in condemning this brand of devalued politics," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told PTI in New Delhi.

"Not only is this condemnable, but this infectious divergence must be rooted out collectively by all political parties," Singhvi added.

Earlier, another party spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said some were indulging in shoe-throwing at political events to garner "cheap publicity."

Shukla said the police were investigating the youth's antecedents and ascertaining who was the target of the shoe thrown at the rally.

"The shoe could have been thrown at somebody among the crowd attending the rally also. So the police are inquiring," he said.

Asking the media not to highlight such incidents, Shukla said if the media did not take notice of show-throwing gimmicks, such incidents would soon die down.