Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday claimed that the man who slapped Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during a roadshow on Saturday was an avid Narendra Modi supporter.

Sisodia cited a news report in a tweet saying that the attacker's wife said that he "is a Modi-bhakt", adding that the police claimed her husband was an AAP leader.

"The attacker's wife is saying that her husband is a Modi-bhakt, police claims he was an AAP leader. It is possible that after the interrogation of BJP (Delhi) Police, this man could deny that this woman is not his wife," Sisodia said in a tweet.

Kejriwal was slapped allegedly by a disgruntled AAP supporter during a roadshow in Moti Nagar, prompting a strong reaction from the AAP which alleged the BJP was behind the "cowardly act".

Sisodia also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the incident on Saturday. "Do [Narendra] Modi and Amit Shah want Kejriwal to be murdered," Sisodia tweeted, attacking the prime minister and the BJP chief.

He said the BJP could not break the morale of Kejriwal, nor could not defeat him in elections in five years. "Now you want him removed from your way like this. You cowards," he said in a tweet.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj had alleged that the Delhi Police had planted the man.

"Delhi Police planting that man belonged to AAP, this is really shameful given the fact that the attacker's wife has herself said he was a Modi-bhakt and did not like anyone talking against Modi.

"This is the same Delhi Police which had planted earlier that no 'mirchi attack' happened on the chief minister. It was later when the Delhi government provided CCTV footage to Delhi Police that left its political masters red faced," Bharadwaj said.

Sisodia said on Sunday that the attacker could deny that the woman is his wife after Delhi Police interrogates him.

Delhi Police said that preliminary interrogation has revealed that 33-year-old Suresh, a scrap dealer in the area, was a supporter of the party and he used to work as organiser of its rallies and meetings.

According to Suresh, over time he got disenchanted due to behaviour of party leaders and he was angered further due to the party's "distrust in the armed forces," the police said.

An inquiry by a DCP-level officer has been ordered to find out how this person was allowed to be in the reception/proximate group, said Additional PRO, Delhi Police Anil Mittal.

On Sunday, Delhi Police registered an FIR under Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) against Suresh.

"Today, he was wearing a cap (which he later took off) and AAP scarf. He was in the chief minister's reception group and no one objected to him being there as he had been an organiser for the party. He was standing near the front right tyre of the gypsy, when he took off the scarf, climbed the bonnet and attempted to assault Kejriwal," he said.

Kejriwal was atop an open jeep when the man wearing a red t-shirt jumped onto the vehicle and slapped the chief minister before he was pulled off the jeep.

Opposition BJP and Congress expressed "doubts" that the incident was the handiwork of the AAP to gain sympathy of voters before the Lok Sabha polls in the city.

Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitender Kochar alleged that the incident was stage-managed by Kejriwal for gaining the sympathy of Delhiites.

"The incident is as an old move of Kejriwal to stage-manage attacks on him and then seek public sympathy. But people of Delhi will not succumb to this political manoeuvre by him," he said.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said his party does not support violence. "But I have doubts as to why such incidents happen with Kejriwal in election time only. I doubt this incident may have been scripted by Kejriwal himself," he said.

Kejriwal found support in his allies, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

"Political vandalism. Political goondaism. Political vendetta. Maligning and attacking oppn leaders show that BJP have lost the election and are making desperate attempts. We condemn the attack on Arvind Kejriwal. We are all with you, Arvind," Banerjee said in a tweet.

Naidu said the attack is an indication of BJP's "desperation and defeat".

"I strongly denounce such dastardly act and Delhi Police must take responsibility for this heinous act of slapping a democratically elected CM. Such attacks will only strengthen our resolve to fight for strengthening democracy," he tweeted.

"After trying to defeat him, demoralize him, degrade him, destabilize him, dethrone him, and destroy his party, the forces that have destroyed institutions, derailed federal principles are now attempting to physically attack Arvind Kejriwal," he added.

Former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha also condemned "in the strongest terms the cowardly attack on CM Delhi".

JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav, in a tweet, said the incident will ensure total defeat of BJP. "The BJP made politics in the country very dirty in the last 5 years. It will take years now to clean the politics in our country," he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, SP president Akhilesh Yadav also condemned the attacks.

At the time of the incident, Kejriwal was holding the roadshow in favour of New Delhi candidate Brijesh Goyal who is contesting from the Lok Sabha seat.

Today's attack on Arvind Kejriwal was not the first time was assaulted during his roadshows or gatherings.

In November, 2018, a man smeared chilli powder on Kejriwal's face.The incident happened inside Delhi Secretariat.

Kejriwal has also been heckled and physically assaulted a lot of times. In February 2016, some people attacked Arvind Kejriwal's car with iron rods and sticks in Punjab's Ludhiana. A month before, a member of the Aam Aadmi Army, Arjun Arora, had thrown ink at Kejriwal.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, some people threw eggs and ink at Kejriwal and other leaders of the AAP when he was campaigning in Varanasi constituency.

(With inputs from PTI)