New Delhi, April 28 : After the flurry of flying sneakers and chappals, a Congress wag posed a pertinent question: Why is it that the Congress party, which professes to champion the cause of the aam aadmi (common people), is being targeted with expensive footwear - sneakers, even branded ones, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that once believed in Shining India, is getting only chappals?

It started off when a Sikh journalist hurled his Reebok sneaker at Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a Congress press briefing in early April.

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate, L.K.Advani, has got 'chappaled' twice - once when a disgruntled party worker threw a "khadaun" or wooden slipper at him in Madhya Pradesh and again in Gujarat when a sadhu aimed a slipper at him.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the latest Congress man in the shoe attack. He was aimed with a sneaker during a poll rally in Ahmedababd, but the shoe fell short of the dais.