Pune, Oct. 23 (PTI): The Congress claimed to have blackened the face of Praveen Togadia for his “derogatory” remarks against party president Sonia Gandhi, but the vhp leader denied it, saying it was a “publicity stunt by Congressmen to make Sonia happy”.

“No such thing had happened. They had made an attempt and created a scene but did not succeed as I had already left the premises after the function. So I do not know whose face they had blackened,” he said.

Congress city unit president Mohan Joshi had said party activists led by him gheraoed Togadia last night outside the Jain temple here and blackened his face “to teach him a lesson for denigrating Sonia Gandhi”.

Reacting to the Congress’ attack on him, Togadia charged them of “singling out Hindu leaders and targeting them to feather their own nests”.

“When a man like Imam Bukhari makes inflammatory statements, the Congressmen keep mum but when Hindu leaders like me or Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray utter anything, they raise a hue and cry. The recent case registered by Mumbai police against him (Thackeray) is a classic example of how the Congress wants to single out Hindu leaders and target them,” he added.

Deputy commissioner of police Sukhvinder Singh, when contacted, said the Congress activists did make an attempt to blacken Togadia’s face but were not successful.