New Delhi: The Congress on Friday accused the BJP government of personal vendetta and endangering the life of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after their SPG cover was removed.
The SPG cover for Rahul Gandhi was withdrawn and the CRPF took over the security at his residence 12, Tughlaq Lane. The CRPF had also reached Sonia Gandhi's residence at 10, Janpath, and was working out modalities for replacing SPG.
Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the decision to remove the SPG cover for Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi is "shocking and vindictive". "It makes the family vulnerable. Not to forget that two members of the family former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were assassinated. The state has a duty to protect and the SPG cover was not a favour," he said.
Sharma said the UPA government never withdrew Atal Bihari Vajpayee's security cover. "It continued under Modi Government until his death". By withdrawing SPG cover, government is playing with the lives of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka, Cong leader K C Venugopal said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are blinded by personal revenge and political vendetta in withdrawing SPG cover from Gandhis," he alleged.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said, "The BJP has descended to the ultimate personal vendetta mechanism, compromising the lives of family members of two former Prime Ministers to acts of terror and violence." The family members of Gandhi family would be provided with Z-plus security cover by the CRPF personnel, officials said.
With this, the nearly 3,000 force would now be guarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi only.
The decision to withdraw the SPG cover given to the family of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by LTTE terrorists on May 21, 1991, was taken after a detailed security assessment, a senior home ministry official said.
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