India's ruling Congress party has blamed a leading spiritual and yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, for a shoe attack at Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi at a rally in the northern state of Uttarakhand Tuesday.

"Baba Ramdev is a thug. He took commission while converting black money into white. An Enforcement Directorate enquiry is going on; he has got a notice worth one billion rupees (20 million U.S. dollars). Where did he get the money from to buy an island in Scotland? He sought the support of opposition Bharatiya Janata Party," Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh told the media Tuesday.

A man, identified as Kuldip, hurled a shoe at Gandhi while he was addressing a rally in Vikasnagar in Uttarakhand yesterday. The shoe fell 10 meters short of the 41-year-old Congress leader, according to the police. The man has been arrested.

The supporters of Ramdev have also been blamed for blackening with ink a portrait of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the mother of Rahul Gandhi, at the party's headquarters in Delhi last week.