NEW DELHI, Sept 20: The Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday promised to look into the allegations that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a Delhi-bound flight at the Frankfurt airport because he was “drunk.” The minister asserted that it was important to verify the facts.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday alleged that Mann was deplaned from a Lufthansa flight at the Frankfurt airport because he was in an inebriated state. Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa too sought an inquiry into the matter and shot off a letter to Scindia.
“This was an incident on international soil. We will have to make sure that we verify the facts. It is up to Lufthansa airline to provide the data. Based on the request that has been sent to me, I will certainly look into it,” Scindia told reporters on the sidelines of an event. Mann returned to India on Monday after his eight-day trip to Germany where he had gone with a delegation to attract investments in his state.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has dismissed the Opposition’s charge as baseless and bogus. The AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday defended and said the opposition was slinging mud at Mann and spreading lies as they could not find a fault in his work.
Speaking to reporters in Vadodara in poll-bound Gujarat, Kejriwal said, “What Mann Saheb had done in the last six months, no government in Punjab had done in the last 75 years. After 75 years, Punjab has got a ‘kattar’ honest and hard-working chief minister,” he said. “All this is a lie, all nonsense. The Opposition is trying to stop Mann but people are watching. They are happy with his work,” Kejriwal said. Queried on the arrest of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, the Delhi chief minister said anyone who committed a mistake should be punished. Khan was nabbed by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on September 16 in connection with a graft case.
Kejriwal targeted the BJP for holding press conferences on this issue. “I have never seen a more useless party than the BJP. It has CBI, ED, Income Tax, and the police at its disposal. Despite this, they hold press conferences daily to accuse people. If we ever form a government at the Centre, we will send accused people to jail and not hold press conferences,” he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
