‘Defiant Mann tells panel to call PM’

A defiant Bhagwant Mann on Thursday appeared before the committee probing the Parliament House videograhpy episode and sought to drag the Prime Minister into the controversy by demanding that he too be summoned for “inviting” Pakistan’s ISI to the Pathankot airbase after the terror attack there.

The AAP Lok Sabha member from Sangrur appeared before the panel which grilled him for nearly an hour and fifteen minutes over his making a video of the Parliament House complex, thereby allegedly compromising its safety and security.

The committee was “upset” with his response, which several members felt showed he was “not serious”. The committee expressed its unhappiness over Mr Mann’s demand to summon the Prime Minister.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Mann submitted a five-page response to the committee headed by BJP’s Kirit Somaiya in which he said “assuming” he was wrong, he had offered “most humble and unconditional apology”.

The committee has given him time till Monday to alter the contents of his letter if he so desired and asked him appear again at 3 pm.

Referring to the terror strike on the Pathankot airbase in January, Mr Mann said in his letter that Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited a team from Pakistan, which also had members from its spy agency ISI, to visit the airbase.

He alleged that the ISI personnel carried out reconnaissance of the strategic base and drew maps which compromised the security of the establishment. — PTI

Mann said the mandate of the committee should be expanded to investigate the security breach due to the entry of ISI personnel at the airbase and demanded that the panel “summon” the Prime Minister and record his “submission” in the matter.

At the same time, he said that he had not committed any act “which would amount to breach of security of Parliament and request that the present inquiry be closed without further action”.

Somaiya later dubbed the contents of the letter as “contradictory and confusing” and said the committee expressed it displeasure on the issue.

Mann also said the footage of Parliament complex is available with various news channels and that the virtual tour of the building is also available on the Lok Sabha website.

In the nearly 12-minute video, apparently shot on July 21, Mann gives a running commentary as his vehicle crosses security barricades and enters Parliament. “I’ll today show you something you would not have seen earlier,” he says.

Mann then enters a room where questions to be taken up by Parliament are being sorted and describes the process.