Two activists of Hindu Sena, a fringe Hindutva outfit, allegedly tried to disrupt the CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury's press conference at his party headquarters at A K Gopalan Bhavan in the national capital on Wednesday afternoon.

The slogan-shouting accused were soon overpowered by CPM activists and police personnel. They were subsequently detained by the local police station.

Yechury and his party attacked the RSS for the incident which drew condemnation from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and leaders from various Opposition parties. Yechury reportedly went ahead with his press conference.

"We will not be cowed down by any attempts of Sangh's goondagardi to silence us. This is a battle for the soul of India, which we will win," Yechury tweeted in his reaction on the incident. "These attempts to silence us will not succeed."

The CPM Politburo cndemned the "efforts made by two persons claiming allegiance to an RSS outfit to disrupt a press conference being addressed by General Secretary" at the end of the two-day meeting of the Politburo.

The Marxist party said, "Masquerading as journalists these persons tried to enter the hall where the conference was being held and started shouting anti-CPM slogans. They were immediately apprehended by CPM workers present there and handed over to the police posted there."

The Politburo charged that "This is typical of the RSS methodology of seeking to browbeat and intimidate the opposition. Such tactics will not be allowed to succeed."

Confirming the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Braja Kishore Singh told The Statesman that they have detained two men.

According to police, the accused posing as reporters barged into the CPM headquarters ahead of Yechury's press conference and started shouting slogans against them.

The police denied that Yechury was heckled or manhandled by the two Hindu Sena activists since the latter were far away from him.

Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta told The Statesman that Delhi Police has detained two Hindu Sena activists, Upendra Kumar and Pawan Kaul, at Mandir Marg Police Station for protesting against Prakash Karat and CPM for their article against Indian Army. He said they were assaulted by CPM workers and received injuries.

Karat has drawn flak from the Sangh Parivar and the ruling BJP for his recent article

criticising Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat for defending the action of Army Major

Leetul Gogoi to tie up a Kashmiri man Farooq Dar to his jeep's bonnet as a "human shield"

against stone-pelters there.