Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Lower House member Bhagwant Mann to stay away from the House till the probe against him for videographing Parliament's security positions and uploading it to Facebook was complete and a decision taken.
She also gave the nine-member committee that was probing the case an extension of two weeks to come to a decision on what action has to be taken against the stand-up comedian-turned-politician, after allegations that the video he had uploaded on social media had breached the security of Parliament, and could be used by terrorists to plan an attack.
Mahajan's decision to ask Mann to stay away from Parliament came a day after his fellow MPs wrote to her requesting that Mann be sent to a rehabilitation centre at the cost of the Lok Sabha for "drugs and alcohol de-addiction." They wrote: "Would be grateful that Bhagwant Mann be sent on a Rehab centre for drugs/alcohol de-addiction by LS on LS expenditure [sic]."
The Parliamentarians making this request included BJP MP Mahesh Giri, SAD MP Prem Singh Chadumajra and AAP MP Harinder Khalsa, who had earlier said he was often disturbed by the stench of alcohol coming from Mann in the House, as they sat next to each other. Khalsa had also said he had requested Mahajan in writing that his seat be changed.
He had said back then: "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."
Mann, meanwhile, has apologised more than once for the video-upload episode, and given various reasons for putting it on social media. One of the initial reasons was that he had meant to shoot an educational video.
