Bangalore: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was assaulted by a man named Harvindh Singh at the New Delhi Municipal Council(NDMC) calmingly angered by corruption and price rise. Pawar was attacked while he was leave after a literary function at a public auditorium on Parliament Street.

Pawar cringed at the sudden attack as he climbed the steps, but then continued walking while the police took the assailant away. Harvindh claimed that he is angry with corruption and price rise in India and said "This is my answer to corrupt politicians." The Sikh youth is a tempo driver by profession and a resident of Rohini, Delhi. He had slapped the Ex-Minister Sukhram just four days ago.

"I came planned to the event to slap the minister," he told the reports there.

"The prices for all essential commodities have risen. Annaji requested for Lokpal but it did not work out. I'm not a terrorist as a terrorist would never take such a step. I'm fed up of all the corrupt ministers involved in various scams," he said. "I would have killed him if I had my kripan today."

Cutting across the party lines, political parties by and large condemned the attack and called it an act of hooliganism. After speaking to Pawar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack and said such incidents should not be given too much importance. Expressing his concern over the increasing incidents of attack on political personalities, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said did not know where the country was heading to and said this act is "totally condemnable."

"Whatever has happened is wrong. Everybody is concerned about price rise. I am not in favour of violence," Samajwadi Party MP Mulayam Singh Yadav later told the media.

NCP spokesperson DP Tripathi asked the media to exercise restraint while covering such incidents and the party leader and Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule said, "This is a condemnable act. In democracy, everyone has the right to voice his opinion but any kind of violence is intolerable."

While BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad condemned attack and demanded the assailant to be punished, another leader of the party, SS Alhulwalia said in the parliament, "The issue of price rise has become so grave today that now a youth has slapped the agriculture minister of the country."