Amid the speculations, that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lost his SPG cover as announced by the Home Affairs Ministry. The Minister will continue to hold Z+ security cover. Z+ category comes with a security cover of 55 personnel.
A statement issued by Home Ministry read “The current security cover review is a periodical and professional exercise based on threat perception that is purely based on a professional assessment by security agencies. Dr. Manmohan Singh continues to have a Z+ security cover.”
The decision by Modi government is said to be taken after a detailed three-month review. The review was done involving Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Home Affairs with the collective inputs from intelligence agencies such as Research and Analysis Wing and the Intelligence Bureau. The assessment was done as a part of the annual exercise to review the SPG cover.
Some sources close to Manmohan Singh said that while reviewing the security cover for late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Congress government always ensured that his security cover remains intact till the very last breath. It is said that Manmohan is an active politician and he can be therefore exposed to more threats.
Considering this, Congress party has condemned the decision of the Home Ministry and called it unfortunate. Previously in June, the staff strength of Manmohan Singh’s office was also reduced which led to the war of words between the BJP and Congress party.