Following the controversy surrounding Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s deplaning from a Lufthansa flight on Saturday night in Frankfurt, Germany, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated on Tuesday that he will investigate the issue.
When confronted by reporters requesting his views on deplaning of Bhagwant Mann, Scindia stated, “This was on international soil. We’ll have to make sure we verify the facts. It is up to Lufthansa to provide data. I’ll certainly, based on the request sent to me, look into it.”
On request demanding inquiry into allegations about Punjab CM being deplaned from a Lufthansa aircraft,Civil Aviation Min says,”This was int’l soil. We’ll have to make sure we verify facts. Up to Lufthansa to provide data. I’ll certainly,based on request sent to me, look into it” pic.twitter.com/CPNuif41gL
— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2022
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann returned to India on Sunday after an eight-day long visit to Germany. There were reports that Mann was deplaned from his return flight to India for being drunk, leading to his flight getting delayed.
Notably, CM Mann has been allegedly found inebriated on multiple occasions. According to accounts, after becoming Chief Minister of Punjab, he visited places such as the Gurudwara Damdama Sahib while being in an inebriated state. Mann has been accused of even attending Parliament sessions when he was a Member of Parliament.
In 2015, former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav alleged that Mann had attended Parliament sessions while being under the influence. In October of the same year, former Granthi of Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, allegedly noticed that Mann was drunk. He was attending the Bhog ceremony of the Faridkot firing victims. Mann was asked to leave the stage, and the incident caused the party embarrassment at the national level.
In 2016, AAP leader Harinder Singh Khalsa accused Mann of being drunk in the house of parliament. He wrote to then-Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and stated it was “torturous” to sit next to Mann, who “reeks of liquor.”
Bhagwant Mann swore not to drink again in January 2019. Arvind Kejriwal, the chairman of AAP, described it as a “great sacrifice for the people.” Mann, the MP from Sangrur at the time, had come under fire for his drinking habits. Though Mann’s commitment was supposed to be honoured, things supposedly did not go that way.
