Fadnavis govt trims security of top Cong, NCP politicians

In a bold move, Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government has decided to downgrade security of top politicians of Congress and NCP and their kin, including former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and his the then deputy Ajit Pawar.

The decision is based upon the "reduced" threat perception to these leaders. ''A high-powered committee, set up under Chief Secretary to gauge the threat perception of politicians, has decided to downgrade the security currently being given to some politicians because their threat perception has decreased," Ram Shinde, Minister of State for Home told PTI.

Some of the former ministers whose security has been scaled down include Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, R R Patil, Praful Patel of NCP, besides ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan, Narayan Rane, among others of Congress.

While Patil was Home minister in erstwhile Congress-NCP government, Bhujbal represented ministry of PWD whereas Patel served as a Cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh government at the Centre.

Narayan Rane was Industries Minister. Shinde said their security could be increased in future depending upon their threat perception.

Fadnavis, aiming to make more manpower available for policing duties, had delegated the power to give security cover to VIPs to a high-powered committee, which is authorised to take decisions based on threat perceptions and intelligence inputs.

The decision of the panel which comprises the state DGP, the Commissioner, state intelligence, besides the chief secretary is final and does not require political clearances."Politicians that had Z or Z-plus security cover but did not really need it will get X or Y category cover," Shinde added.

When contacted, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the decision has nothing to do with political affiliations of the individuals concerned.

"The committee under chairmanship of Chief Secretary and other members takes decision (on security assessment) and (no) minister has any role to play. They (members of the committee) take decision on the basis of threat perception," he told PTI.

Fadnavis said the government could ask the committee to take a fresh review of its decision to scale down security cover if any individual feels aggrieved. "Our government will never compromise someone's security based on political affiliations," the chief minister said.