Delhi’s leader ducks again, this time as shoe hurled at him

NEW DELHI – First it was eggs and ink, and now a shoe.

New Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, had to duck out of the way Saturday when a shoe was flung at him as he spoke at a news conference in the Indian capital.

Kejriwal, New Delhi’s top elected official for just over a year, has been the victim of repeated attacks by supporters of opposing political parties. In addition to having eggs and ink thrown at him, Kejriwal got a swollen eye while campaigning in New Delhi in 2014 when a man slapped him across the face after placing a garland around his neck.

On Saturday, it was a disgruntled former worker for Kejriwal’s own Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, who hurled a shoe at the chief minister. The shoe missed the target, and Kejriwal was not hurt.

Television video showed police leading the shoe-throwing man away, but not before some of Kejriwal’s supporters had landed a few blows on him.

The man, identified by police as Ved Prakash, said he was angry because his complaint about corruption had been ignored by Kejriwal’s government.