New Delhi: Hours after a Congress delegation on Monday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to demand adequate security for party vice president Rahul Gandhi in wake of death threats to him, the Special Protection Group(SPG) and the Intelligence Bureau(IB) were today ordered by the government to take maximum precautions for the Congress vice president.
Acting swiftly, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi directed the SPG, responsible for the protection of the Congress VP, and the IB to take all necessary precautionary measures in this regard.
Mehrishi's missive to the two agencies came soon after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked him to take up the issue seriously and ensure protection to Rahul, official sources said.
Earlier, some top brass of Congress, including Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi; Treasurer Motilal Vohra and Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma met the Home Minister and apprised him about the threat to the Congress Vice President's life.
"The Home Minister has assured us of prompt action and security enhancement. He has also assured us that the agencies of the Centre and the states and SPG will be alerted about the threat that has been received," Sharma told reporters after the 20-minute meeting with Singh.
During the meeting, Sharma also raised the issue of proposal to shift en masse about 400 officers of the SPG and to bring in new people.
"It is a matter of concern as to why such a proposal has come up as SPG personnel require rigorous training," he said.
The party's Puducherry unit had received a letter threatening Gandhi would be killed like his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Narayanasamy, an AICC General Secretary and a former Union Minister, from Karaikal said over the phone that he had received an 'unsigned letter' at his Puducherry residence on May 5, threatening him and Rahul Gandhi, as per PTI.
He said the letter written in Tamil stated that "your party is responsible for closure of industries in Puducherry. We will attack you and your former Prime Minister's son and will be blasted while attending the Karaikal meeting."
Narayanasamy said he had filed a complaint with police and had also informed the party high command.
The SPG guards the Prime Minister, the former Prime Ministers and their immediate family. Sonia Gandhi and her two children -- Rahul and Priyanka -- are SPG protectees.
Rahul's father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991 shortly before he was to address a Lok Sabha poll rally.
(With Agency inputs)
