'Don't Drink Pre-Condition? Really?' Ghuggi's Jibe At Bhagwant Mann, AAP

Chandigarh: Political satirist Gurpreet Singh Waraich, popularly known as Ghuggi,  today chose the sharpest barb -- laughter -- to attack the Aam Aadmi Party, which eased him out of the party's top post in Punjab and installed Bhagwant Mann two days ago. He acknowledged that the party, even while it elevated Mr Mann, had warned him off drinking and questioned the efficacy of the selection. 

"How laughable is the condition 'consume no liquor' to make Bhagwant the convener? How can they have a condition 'don't drink now', because that itself acknowledges that he is a drunkard," said Mr Singh, who walked out of the party on Wednesday. He followed it up with a further revelation: "Bhagwant himself said 'remove me if I drink again'".

AAP, which is fighting battles on multiple fronts - the biggest being the corruption charges against party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal - had maintained silence on reports of the no-drinking rider for Mr Mann.

The drinking habits of Mr Mann, a parliamentarian, had drawn complaints from his colleagues in the house. There have been allegations that he turned up drunk at the party's campaigns in the run-up to the assembly elections in Punjab. And it became a matter of ridicule after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a jibe at him in Parliament.

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"As long as you are alive, have fun. Karz karo aur ghee piyo (take loans and have as much ghee or clarified butter as you want). In those times, there were values, they talked about ghee. Bhagwant Mann would ask them to drink something else," PM Modi quipped during a speech in February, as the house dissolved in laughter.

Mr Mann was not amused and threatened to report the Prime Minister for breach of privilege.

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This time too, Mr Singh's jibe provoked Mr Mann to retaliate. Mr Singh, he said, was made the party's state convener within two months of joining. "At that time, the selection process was right? Now he raises question about it.... I did not expect him to raise questions about the selection process when the party has given him so much," Mr Mann said late last evening.