Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sparked a political row on Friday after opposition leaders accused him of arriving at the state Assembly “under the influence of alcohol”.
Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa called for immediate breathalyser and dope tests for the Chief Minister and all MLAs during the ongoing session. Meanwhile, BJP MP Swati Maliwal, who recently quit the Aam Aadmi Party, shared a video clip of Mann addressing the House and demanded that he undergo an alcohol test, adding that he should be removed from office if found guilty.
In a strongly worded statement, Maliwal alleged that Mann had repeatedly attended official engagements, including religious visits and government meetings, while intoxicated. She also referred to an earlier public promise in which he had vowed to abstain from alcohol.
‘What Shamelessness?’
“Today, once again, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has arrived at the temple of democracy, the Punjab Legislative Assembly, completely intoxicated with alcohol. This man goes to the Gurdwara Sahib after drinking, goes to the temple after drinking, used to come to the Lok Sabha after drinking, goes to government meetings after drinking, and drank so much abroad that he was deplaned,” she said in a post on X.
आज फिर से पंजाब CM भगवंत मान लोकतंत्र के मंदिर पंजाब विधानसभा में शराब के नशे में चूर होकर पहुँचे हैं।
ये आदमी गुरुद्वारा साहिब शराब पीकर जाता है, मंदिर शराब पीकर जाता है, लोकसभा शराब पीकर आता था, सरकार की मीटिंग में शराब पीकर जाता है, विदेश में इतनी शराब पीली की प्लेन से उतार… pic.twitter.com/M5VngsZ1sV
— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) May 1, 2026
She added, “Before the elections, he had placed his hand on his mother’s head and declared that he would never drink alcohol again. The CM of a sensitive border state like Punjab stays intoxicated all the time… signs files while under the influence. What shamelessness. How can a man who is only ever away from alcohol during sleep possibly run Punjab? CM Mann should undergo an alcohol test, and if found guilty, he should be removed from the CM position.”
Sukhpal Demands Alcohol Test
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira also claimed that CM Mann came to the Assembly “drunk” and demanded alcohol test.
“Cm @BhagwantMann was found drunk in the Vidhan Sabha today ! We @INCIndia walked out of the house demanding from the Speaker @SpeakerSandhwan that an alcohol test of Cm @BhagwantMann be conducted and we offered to undertake the test ourselves too. The conduct of @AamAadmiParty Cm Bhagwant Mann had lowered the prestige of the august house of Vidhan Sabha . We @INCPunjab Mla’s urge @ArvindKejriwal to take action against Cm for impropriety and that too by being drunk in the assembly-Khaira,” he said in a post on X.
Cm @BhagwantMann was found drunk in the Vidhan Sabha today !
We @INCIndia walked out of the house demanding from the Speaker @SpeakerSandhwan that an alcohol test of Cm @BhagwantMann be conducted and we offered to undertake the test ourselves too.
The conduct of… pic.twitter.com/H4mPdN4Gcd
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) May 1, 2026
The controversy comes days after Maliwal, along with Raghav Chadha and several other Rajya Sabha MPs, exited the AAP and merged their faction with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her fallout with the party had begun earlier over allegations of assault involving a close aide of AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
It is peryinent to mention that this all happened just a year before the state is going for the legislative assembly election which will decide the fate of AAP.
This is not the first time Mann has faced such allegations. In 2022, opposition parties had claimed he was deboarded from a Delhi-bound flight in Frankfurt over similar concerns, a charge dismissed by the AAP as baseless.
