Row over ‘ Bhagwant Mann video’: Punjab CM digs in heels as Opposition calls for boycott
Bhagwant Mann, in a video message, claimed the Congress, BJP and the Akali Dal have formed a “sanjha morcha” (common front) to defame him on religious grounds as they failed to challenge him politically.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday dug his heels in rejecting the allegations that the forensic report that gave him a clean chit on a controversial video was fabricated and accused the ruling BJP in Haryana of pressuring the lab owners to target him, even as the Opposition parties escalated the attack demanding his resignation and social boycott.
Mann, in a video message, claimed the Congress, BJP and the Akali Dal have formed a “sanjha morcha” (common front) to defame him on religious grounds as they failed to challenge him politically. He said for the past few days, fake videos were being released as part of a “cheap political conspiracy” and reiterated there was no resemblance between him and the person seen in the video.
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“By making that video viral, I was declared guilty,” he said.
As the row intensified, Opposition parties accused Mann of trying to undermine the authority of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of the Sikhs and demanded that the CM be booked under the new anti-sacrilege law.
Addressing media persons in Chandigarh, Congress leaders called upon people to observe a complete social boycott of Mann. Party’s state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said that the Congress was unanimous in its demand for Mann’s resignation.
The SAD appealed to Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini to register an FIR against Mann as well as those who, it alleged, got the “fake” forensic reports with the “sole motive of refuting Sri Akal Takht Sahib and lowering its dignity”. BJP, too, continued its attack on Mann over the row.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. (PTI Photo) 
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