A young man Saturday smeared ink on AAP leader Yogendra Yadav's face after springing from behind at a party rally here to mark International Women's Day.

 

 The attacker, identified by police as Sagar Bhandari, leaped on the stage where Yadav was seated and talking to the media. The man wore the trademark white cap of the Aam Aadmi Party.

 

 Before Yadav and AAP members around him could realize what was happening, the man repeatedly smeared ink on Yadav's face, temporarily blinding him. It took four or five seconds before others came to Yadav's rescue, pushing away the attacker who was then roughed up. Police quickly intervened and took him away.

 

 A police officer said Bhandari was apparently "a disgruntled AAP worker". Yadav, the AAP candidate in the Lok Sabha election in Gurgaon in Haryana, was clearly stunned.   "I was talking to you when this person came from behind and put ink on my face," he told journalists near Jantar Mantar where the meeting was held. "I did not see him… I mean how could I see him."

 

 He added: "When you take on powerful forces in this country, one must be ready to pay a price. May God forgive this man (attacker)."