Punjab elections 2017: Bhagwant Mann has been accused of arriving drunk to a public meeting in Moga.
Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), asked embarrassing questions about his alleged fondness for drinking, has a ready reply. "Do a blood test," he announces dramatically, speaking to NDTV while he campaigns for the February 4 elections.
Mr Mann is seen struggling to get up from the floor in newspaper photographs over the past two days. The caption suggests that the 43-year-old arrived drunk at a public meeting in Moga, around 170 kilometres from Chandigarh, and then subjected his audience to antics like blowing kisses for long minutes, turning his back to the audience and even falling on the stage, before being helped to his car by a guard.
The stand-up comic denies that he is anything more than a social drinker. "Those are allegations (of alcoholism) by rival parties. They think a lie told 100 times can become the truth," he told NDTV.
Those parties, Mr Mann went on, should check the blood tests of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, minister Bikram Majithia and Congress' Captain Amarinder Singh. "Do my blood test too. In my blood you will find patriotism...God knows what one will find in the others," he quipped.
Mr Mann is one of AAP's two parliamentarians in Punjab and is the best guess when it comes to the party's chief ministerial candidate in the state, for now.
He is contesting the state polls against Sukhbir Badal from Jalalabad, and calls the huge crowds at his rallies a sure sign that there is a surge in his popularity in the constituency.
For AAP, which is trying to replicate its electoral success in Delhi in Punjab, it is particularly vexing to have one of its most prominent faces getting bad press over his alleged drinking.
In 2015, he was accused of staggering in drunk to a condolence meeting, from where he was eventually asked to leave.
Last year, Mr Mann was barred from the Lok Sabha for a long stretch after he filmed his journey to parliament, which, according to other MPs, severely compromised security. His alleged drinking came into sharp focus as a committee of parliamentarians examined the incident.