New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was detained for nearly three hours at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport after returning from Paris, before officials issued him a challan of Rs 50,000, claiming they were under “tremendous pressure from above”.

The party has accused the Centre of deliberately humiliating Mann and creating hurdles in Punjab’s progress, linking the alleged incident to repeated denials of political clearance for the chief minister’s foreign visits.

Baltej Pannu, AAP’s media in-charge in Punjab, alleged that Mann was kept waiting at the airport under the pretext that his luggage was still arriving and being checked. “When Mann returned from Paris and arrived at the Delhi airport, he was deliberately detained for three hours. Excuses were made that ‘your luggage is still arriving’ and ‘your luggage is still being checked’,” Pannu said in a statement.

He further claimed that officials approached Mann just as he was about to leave the airport after loading his luggage into a vehicle. “After three hours, when Mann was allowed to leave and was about to depart after placing his luggage in a vehicle, officials came running after him and said that they were under ‘tremendous pressure from above’,” Pannu alleged.

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj also alleged that Mann was made to wait at the airport after travelling to Paris to promote Punjab’s products. In a post on X, Bharadwaj said the chief minister’s visit came after he challenged the Centre’s decision to deny him political clearance for the trip.

“Mann Saab stopped at Indian Airport for around 3 hours. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann went to Paris to launch Punjab’s products at Paris. This was after he challenged Centre’s not granting him the NOC. This arrogance of Centre must end. Even Ravan’s arrogance ended on Dussehra.,” Saurabh Bharadwaj said in the post.