Rahul Gandhi Attacks Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann Over Alleged Intoxication, Criticizes AAP's Governance

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, November 4, launched a personal attack on Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann , alleging that he reeked of alcohol when in Parliament, and wondered how a chief minister can fight drugs if he gets “intoxicated” every evening. The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government in Punjab after people placed their trust in Mann and the party on their promise to end the drug menace in the state. “I want to ask, from which corner of Punjab did they wipe out drugs?” Gandhi said at Congress’ ‘Insaaf Rally’ in Sangrur, the home district of Mann, kicking off the party’s election campaign in Punjab, where elections are due early next year. Recalling Mann’s stint in Parliament as the Sangrur MP, Gandhi said, “In Lok Sabha, he used to crack jokes sitting with us. At 11 am, he used to smell of alcohol. I am not saying Bhagwant Mann should not consume alcohol; it is his personal matter. But if you want to fight drugs, the chief minister can’t get intoxicated every evening.” “Punjab needs a man who can fight for its cause, someone who feels the pain of drug addiction in his heart,” he added. Gandhi also said that people deserve a government that works for Punjab, not like AAP, which is run from Delhi . “The Congress will run the government from the soil of Punjab, with neither the home minister nor a former chief minister of Delhi interfering,” Gandhi said, taking an indirect dig at Amit Shah and Arvind Kejriwal. Mann won the Sangrur parliamentary seat twice, in 2014 and 2019, before contesting the 2022 Assembly polls from Dhuri in the district after resigning from his Lok Sabha seat. At a rally in Barnala in 2019, Mann had vowed to give up alcohol in the presence of his mother and AAP supremo Kejriwal. Mann had also accused his political rivals of defaming him by portraying him as a “born drunkard”. Sangrur, which is part of the Malwa region, is often described as the political capital of AAP.