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Sonia's SPG cover to be extended for another 10 yrs

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has cleared a 10-year extension to the special security cover provided to Sonia Gandhi, top government sources confirmed today.

The first term of the SPG cover provided to Sonia comes to an end tomorrow.

"Prime Minister Vajpayee has directed Union Home Minister L K Advani to ensure that there was no delay in extending the security cover to Sonia Gandhi," a senior official of the Ministry of Home Affairs told rediff.com.

He said that following the death sentence awarded to the four main accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Congress chief's security had been upgraded.

Significantly, a note for the Union Cabinet has been prepared for ratifying statutory changes in the 1988 SPG Act, with a provision for reviewing the security provided to Sonia and her two children Rahul and Priyanka on a yearly or two-yearly basis.

However, it is understood that both Vajpayee and Advani feel that considering the threat perception to Sonia and her children, their security cannot be whittled down in any way.

"The case of Sonia madame and her children is special...the government is determined to ensure that they are fully protected despite suggestions that SPG cover should be given only in very deserving cases," the official pointed out.

The huge expenditure incurred by the government on VVIP protection has led to a demand from certain circles that indiscriminate allotment of such facilities should be stopped.

A suggestion has also been made to discontinue any protection that is currently being given to the children of VVIPs. The SPG has gone a step further and suggested that the group's responsibility should be restricted to protecting only the prime minister.

The union law ministry is learnt to have cleared the SPG demand that children of former prime ministers below 21 years of age should get the SPG cover, while it should be withdrawn automatically once they cross this age limit.

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