Uddhav Thackeray govt slashes Devendra Fadnavis' security cover; BJP says vendetta

Mumbai, Jan 10: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra has scaled down the security of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and a few other leaders in the state, an official said.

The BJP reacted strongly to the development, with state unit chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye terming the action unfortunate and a ''vendetta'' of the ruling coalition against his party''s leaders.

The state government announced in a circular that it has decided to trim the security cover of Fadnavis, who is now the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and of his family, and also that of former Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

The government has also decided to withdraw the security cover of state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, also of the BJP.

The decision was taken after a review of the security cover provided to various persons the state, the government said.