Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann seems to be in quite the soup right now with a complaint being registered against him at the Parliament Street Police Station on Friday over a video he uploaded to Facebook a day before showing sensitive security positions within Parliament premises.
But then Mann hasn't exactly been a squeaky clean character in Parliament, with a fellow MP alleging on Friday that Mann regularly comes to the Lok Sabha drunk. Then again, this is hardly the first time he has been accused of such a transgression. Take a look at the things Mann has been accused of doing over the years — things that have landed him in the eye of the storm every time.
Drunk controversy 1:
MP Harinder Khalsa, who was suspended from the AAP in August last year, said on Friday he had complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan that he often gets whiffs of alcohol from the seat next to him, where Mann sits. He also said he had been assured by the Speaker that his seat would be changed.
He said of Mann: "I am a 69-year-old Sikh. I feel like vomiting when I come to Parliament every morning after my daily religious rituals and am showered by the smell of alcohol." He continued on a lighter note: "Now, one can't show so much brotherly love that one MP comes drunk and the other pukes."
Ckeck out what Khalsa said:
Drunk controversy 2:
Alcohol seems to have been getting Mann into trouble for quite some time now. He had, in October last year, reportedly arrived in an inebriated state at a religious ceremony that was organised for two Sikhs who were killed in police firing during the protests that turned violent following the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab. He was subsequently asked to leave the ceremony.
Comments against teachers:
Late last month, a video had gone viral showing Mann speaking about teachers of government schools. He is heard narrating an incident pertaining to his father, who was one such teacher and was looking to join a protest for increase in salary.
He is heard saying in the video: "I told him I would come with him, but on one condition: I would ask a question. I would ask the teachers there how many of their children study in government schools. My father said none, so I asked why. He replied that not much teaching happens in government schools. So I asked him, why was he asking for more money when he was spoiling other people's children."
Government school teachers had taken serious umbrage to this, and protested until Mann tendered yet another apology.
Going against AAP:
The AAP, since its inception, has seen many people leave the party because they did not like party convener Arvind Kejriwal's style of functioning. The trend continued well after Kejriwal became chief minister of Delhi. In fact, people who have as much as deviated from the party line have been rebuked severely. Former AAP spokesperson Alka Lamba is witness to that.
Therefore, when an audio emerged in August last year in which Bhagwant Mann is apparently heard criticising Kejriwal, many thought that was the end of the MP from Sangrur. "They (the party leadership, or more specifically, Kejriwal) are plotting against us... They have started plotting against everyone," he was heard saying. However, nothing came of that, and Mann continued as an MP and AAP member.