Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: In what could lead to another row within BJP, party leader Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday said that the family of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should get Special Protection Group (SPG) protection.
The family of Priyanka Gandhi had given many sacrifices in the past, said Sinha. The BJP leader made the statement a day after criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s decision to not include leaders over 75 years of age in his Cabinet. "I don`t agree with this age of 75 being a cut-off age. Experience and ability can go together. There are senior leaders in the party who are sharper than the ones who are aged 45. Due to some reasons they have not got the post which they deserved," Sinha told a news channel in an interview. The Bollywood actor-turned-politician also applauded senior leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi for their contribution to the BJP. On Friday, the daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to the SPG chief, asking for the withdrawal of privileges at airports for her and her family. Priyanka`s letter, which came in the wake of media reports about removal of her husband Robert Vadra`s name from the list of VVIPs exempt from checks at the airport, said that "his inclusion on that list came about at the instance of your predecessors in the SPG/Delhi Police and not upon any request by either of us".
"It was done ostensibly to facilitate the coordination of the two separate security agencies at the airport when we travelled together," she said. "Ever since then, it has been a source of constant embarrassment for my husband who has asked me on numerous occasions to have it removed as, in any case, he goes through the full security check and procedure from the normal channel every time he is travelling on his own," Priyanka said. She said she would "appreciate if you could put this into practice as soon as the government order cancelling my husband`s exemption comes into force".
(With IANS inputs)