Former Chief Ministers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Lalu Prasad and Akhilesh Yadav respectively are no longer in the Central List of VIP protectees after the Union Home Ministry reviewed a list of 130 protectees and decided to withdraw or scale down the security cover of many politicians, media personalities and bureaucrats.
Akhilesh was secured by the elite National Security Guards, while Lalu was a Z category protectee. Among other prominent personalities removed from the Central List include Z+ protectee and BSP Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra and Z category protectees like former minister in the Modi Government Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former CRPF DG and advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Government K Vijay Kumar besides UP Government Minister Suresh Rana. These protectees were being secured by the CRPF.
Others removed from the Central List include Vice Chancellor of Manipur University Adya Prasad Pandey, former Congress MP and MLA Avtar Singh Bhadana, Deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh Dinesh Sharma, Jitendra Swami (son of former MP, Bihar, Umashankar Singh, Punjab MLA Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi , former MP from Bihar Sabir Ali, Editor-in-Chief of Samachar Plus Umesh Kumar, Publisher of Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata Aveek Sarkar, former MP from Bihar Uday Singh and MP from Bihar Veena Devi who were getting security cover from the CRPF.
Security cover of Punjab Kesari Editor AK Minha has been downgraded from Z+ to Z and CRPF cover has been withdrawn. Earlier, he was availing all-India security cover from CRPF except in Delhi. Former Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi will now get Z category protection Jharkhand only instead of the earlier Z+ category cover from CRPF.
BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Som’s cover has also been downgraded from Z category to Y and limited only to Uttar Pradesh instead of the earlier protection in the States of Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab besides UP.
LJP MP Chirag Paswan’s cover has been downgraded from Z category to Y type and his CRPF cover has also been removed. IG Nalin Prabhat will get ‘Z’ cover in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Punjab only. Likewise, protection of former MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and Lok Sabha MP Sachidanadhari Sakshi has been downgraded from Z to Y and their CRPF cover has also been removed. Former CRPF DG Prakash Mishra’s CRPF security cover has been removed but has been retained in the ‘X’ category Central list.
Sources said the ‘Z’ cover of former BJP members Kirti Azad and Shatrughan Sinha, newly- appointed Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalraj Mishra, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, two granddaughters and a grandson of former President Pranab Mukherjee, daughter and grandson of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been taken off from the central list or has been removed. These VIPs were being secured by the armed commandos of paramilitary forces like the CISF and the Delhi Police.
Others whose security has been withdrawn include Uttar Pradesh minister Brajesh Pathak, BJP politician Anupam Hazra, ISRO Chairman K Sivan, former scientific adviser R Chidambaram and Congress leader Deependra Hooda.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP O P Mathur, Achrya Pramod Krishnam, who unsuccessfully contested from the Lucknow Parliamentary constituency on a Congress ticket, RSS leader Indresh Kumar, former BJP MP Udit Raj; and sitting BJP MP from Etawah Ram Shankar Katheria have also been taken off from the protection list of central security forces.
The cover of Congress MP from Punjab, Pratap Singh Bajwa, space scientist T K Alex and few others have also been taken off the Central list.
The protection category of Abhijeet Mukherjee, MP son of former President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Raj Babbar, Digvijay Singh, A K Antony, Manish Tewari, Loktantrik Janata Dal Party leader Sharad Yadav, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has also been downgraded.
Former Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia, NIA Inspector General G P Singh, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath and Additional Sessions Judge in Delhi O P Saini are among others whose security cover has been downgraded.
Some of those who have been removed from the Central list will be provided security by the police units of various State governments, officials said.
The Home Ministry has sought compliance of security category by the Central paramilitary forces by Thursday.