The interstate council incident held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan where Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was refrained from carrying his cellphone may have acted as the trigger for Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann, who appeared on Monday before a nine-member Lok Sabha panel for live streaming his journey inside the Parliament thereby violating security protocol.
When asked by Meenakshi Lekhi if his act was a reaction to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's protests over not being allowed to take a mobile phone to the meeting of the inter-state council,“Ho sakta hai (Maybe),” Mann is learnt to have said in his reply to the question from Lekhi, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Kejriwal had publicly aired his resentment over having been stopped from carrying in his cellphone. He had claimed some chief ministers had been allowed to do so while some like him had been stopped.
Mann was also asked if security personnel hadn’t told him not to film the process of draw of lots of questions to be asked in Lok Sabha, Mann replied one security person did tell him not to, but he continued filming.
Committee chairman Kirit Somaiya is understood to have noted that Mann was unrepentant and had offered highly contradictory statements on his behaviour when he drove past security pickets while offering a running commentary on what was being recorded.
Reports also say that Somaiya is in favour of tough action against Sangrur MP but other members who agreed that Mann acted in irresponsible manner but were against his expulsion.The panel will submit its report today.
Apart from being headed by Kirit Somaiya of the BJP, the committee includes Meenakshi Lekhi and Satyapal Singh(both BJP), Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD), Ratna De (Trinamool Congress), Thota Narasimham (Telugu Desam), K C Venugopal (Congress) and P Venugopal (AIADMK).
Shiromani Akali Dal's Prem Singh Chandumajra, Bharatiya Janata Party's Maheish Girri and suspended AAP MP Harinder Singh Khalsa yesterday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, urging her to send Mann to rehab at the Lok Sabha's expense.
