Mayawati govt. strips several VVIPs of categorised security

Lucknow, May 31 (UNI) In another blow to the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav regime, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to curtail the list of 89 persons to 43 who were given special category security in the state.

The decision was taken after review of the personal security by a committee headed by Principal Secretary (Home) with Director General of Police (DGP), ADG (Security) and Joint Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) as its members.

''The government has pruned the list of the persons getting 'Z Plus', 'Z', 'Y' and 'X' category security to 43 ,however, 'Z Plus' security people remain untouched,'' the Principal Secretary (Home) K Chandramauli told reporters this evening.

Most of the persons who were stripped of the high security were the ones who had been given the facility by the previous SP government-led by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The leaders to face the heat included some of the top opposition leaders like BJP state President Keshari Nath Tripathi, former Leader of Opposition Lalji Tandon, SP MP Akhshay Pratap Singh, former Congress MP Ratna Singh, BJP leader Kalraj Mishra, controversial Indpendent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and SP leader Naresh Agarwal whose security has been downgraded.

Governor T V Rajeswar, Chief Minister Mayawati, former CMs Kalyan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Naresh Yadav along with BJP leaders Murli manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar would continue to get 'Z plus' security.

SP General Secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav, SP MP Akhilesh Yadav, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadva would no longer enjoy categorised security.

The security of Bahujan Samaj Party General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra has also been downgraded from 'Z' to 'Y'.

The VVIPs who would still get the 'Z' security in the state included former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Samajwadi Kranti dal leader Beni Prasad Verma, lawyer Ajay Agarwal, BJP legislator party leader Om Prakash Singh and Congress Legislator Party leader Pramod Tiwari.

Meanwhile, the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court had yesterday ordered that the 'Z' category security given to Samajwadi Party general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh be continued till today.

UNI