Parliament video row

unconditional apology

Dalits in Gujarat

Sumitra Mahajan

Parliament video: Bhagwant Mann defends action

NEW DELHI: Under mounting attack over the, AAP MP Bhagwant Mann on Friday said he was ready for any probe after tendering aneven as the party rallied behind him, saying BJP was trying to hype up a "non-issue" to deflect attention from attacks on Dalits in Gujarat.As Mann's filming of his drive into Parliament building accompanied with a running commentary rocked both houses of Parliament, the MP from Punjab said he had deleted the video from his Facebook wall and that his intention was not to compromise security of the institution.Defending Mann, AAP said the video did not amount to security breach, and accused the BJP of trying to deflect attention from the issue of attacks onEarlier Mann, in a letter to speaker, tendered an "unconditional apology" for the video and said he made the "mistake inadvertently" and that he had no intention of compromising the security of Parliament."I have tendered an unconditional apology to the Speaker over the video. My intention was not to compromise the security of Parliament."I only wanted to apprise the people of the process of selection of questions because they, at times, ask us why their questions were not raised. I wanted to show them that the questions are selected through a lucky draw. I have made an educational video," he said.Party leader Ashutosh said the Lok Sabha member from Sangrur was only trying to "show" the procedure of asking questions during the Zero Hour."Adityanath, Sakshi Maharaj, Giriraj Singh are the biggest threat to country's security and these leaders will add glory to Parliament, while Bhagwant Mann will be booked under NSA? What justice is this? (sic)" AAP leader Sanjay Singh tweeted.However, party sources said the controversy could have been avoided.