UPA never removed SPG cover of Vajpayee, says Congress accusing BJP of playing 'partisan politics'
New Delhi/IBNS: Raising the issue of removal of the Gandhi family's Special Protection Group (SPG) cover, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing "partisan politics".
Sharma also reminded BJP that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government- which ruled the country from 2004 to 2014- never removed the SPG cover of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee who used to belong to the saffron party.
Countering Sharma, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda said, "The decision to remove SPG cover is not taken by any politician but the concerned committee of the Home Ministry."
Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday raised the same issue in Lok Sabha and said, "The SPG cover was there for so many years. Even NDA government was in power for few years but it was not removed earlier."
The SPG cover, which was earlier given to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, was removed earlier this month.
The decision, they said, was taken after multiple security agencies carried out a threat perception assessment and found there was no direct threat to them.
After the removal of the SPG security cover, Gandhis now get Z-plus security.
The SPG cover is considered as the highest tier of security in the country.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
