New Delhi: The Centre has removed the VIP security cover of several politicians and lawmakers, including RJD boss Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, while it has scaled down the protection category of many others after reviewing over 130 cases, official sources said Tuesday.
This is the first full-scale review of VIP protectees by the Union Home Ministry after the Modi 2.0 government took charge.
Sources said the top level ‘Z+’ category NSG cover of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, ‘Z’ cover of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, BJP MP and former minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former BJP members Kirti Azad and Shatrughan Sinha, newly- appointed Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalraj Mishra, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the two granddaughters and a grandson of former President Pranab Mukherjee, daughter and grandson of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been taken off from the central list or has been removed.
These VIPs were being secured by the armed commandos of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like the CRPF, CISF, the elite counter-terror force NSG and the Delhi Police.
Others whose security has been withdrawn include ministers in Uttar Pradesh government Suresh Rana and Brajesh Pathak, MP from Bihar’s Vaishali seat Veena Devi, ex-MP from the state Uday Singh, Uttar Pradesh minister Brajesh Pathak, BJP politician Anupam Hazra, ISRO Chairman K Sivan and former scientific adviser R Chidambaram.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP O P Mathur; Achrya Pramod Krishnam, who unsuccessfully contested from the Lucknow parliamentary seat on a Congress ticket; RSS leader Indresh Kumar; former BJP MP Udit Raj; and sitting BJP MP from Etawah Ram Shankar Katheria have also been taken off from the protection list of central security forces.
Separately, the security provided by the CAPF commandos to BSP MP Satish Chandra Mishra, former Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi, BJP MLA from UP Sangeet Som, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s MP son Chirag Paswan, ex-MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and former CRPF Directors General (DG) K Vijay Kumar and Prakash Mishra has been scaled down.
The security categorisation of Abhijeet Mukherjee, MP son of ex-President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Raj Babbar, Digvijay Singh, AK Antony and Manish Tewari, Loktantrik Janata Dal Party leader Sharad Yadav, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has also been downgraded.
Some of those who have been removed from the central list will be taken care of by the police units of various state governments, they said.
The Home Ministry went Monday through the threat perception reports of over 130 VIPs which were prepared by central security agencies after which the categories were either removed or reviewed, sources said.
PTI