Send Bhagwat Mann to rehab, members urge Lok Sabha speaker Mahajan

Mann is already in trouble for his 12-minute video, which he had uploaded on Facebook last Thursday.

NEW DELHI: In a fresh twist to the Bhagwant Mann saga, some Lok Sabha members have now written to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asking her to ensure that the AAP MP from Punjab is sent to rehab to help him get rid of his alcohol addiction.

MPs, including Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandrumajra, BJP’s Maheish Girri and AAP’s suspended MP Harinder Singh Khalsa have written to the speaker asking for Mann to be sent for alcohol and drug de-addiction before he is allowed to join back Lok Sabha.

Mann is already in trouble for his 12-minute video, which he had uploaded on Facebook last Thursday. He is seen giving a running commentary as his vehicle crosses security barricades and enters parliament.

A nine-member panel set up by the Speaker which is probing the video has decided to seek an extension of “at least a week” for submitting its report. The panel, headed by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, had been asked by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to submit its report latest by August 3.

“We have decided to seek an extension of at least a week as it is not possible to submit the report in such a short time,” a member of the panel told Express.

Mann, an MP from Sangrur in Punjab, appeared before the panel for the second time on Monday and rendered an unqualified apology but stuck to his stand that he had made the video unintentionally and hadn’t committed any mistake.

Appearing before the panel last week, Mann had demanded summoning the Prime Minister claiming he had also compromised the country’s security by inviting ISI to visit the Pathankot Air Base.

Before this, the Sangrur MP submitted a five-page letter to the committee that was formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to probe the issue.

Last week, the committee, which grilled him for nearly an hour and fifteen minutes, was apparently upset with his response. Several members felt showed he was "not serious". It also expressed its unhappiness over Mann's demand to summon the Prime Minister.

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