Chandigarh: A shoe was hurled at Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at a public meeting he was addressing in Lambi constituency’s Rattakhera Chhota village on Wednesday,

The shoe reportedly hit Mr Badal’s spectacles. No injury was reported. The man who hurled the shoe has been taken into custody. He has been identified as Gurbachan Singh.

The police said that Gurbachan Singh was angry over the alleged incidents of the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib.  

The shoe incident comes just days after the cavalcade of Punjab’s deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, was stoned in Jallabad by villagers.

The chief minister’s office, reacting to the shoe incident, said in a statement that “behind such incidents are people who want to set Punjab on flames again and push the youth of Punjab back into the jaws of bloodshed.”

Mr Badal said that “these elements have the backing of our political rivals,” who are increasingly turning desperate. While CM Badal urged his party to maintain peace, his daughter-in-law and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal accused AAP MP Bhagwant Mann of encouraging voters to turn violent.