Uproar in Parliament over withdrawal of SPG cover to Rahul, Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi, Nov 19: The Congress leaders raised slogans and walked out of the Lok Sabha over the withdrawal of SPG cover to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raked up the issue of the withdrawal of SPG cover from the Gandhi family. Congress gave the notice to move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha against the withdrawal of the Special Protection Group (SPG).

"They (Gandhis) are not ordinary protectees. What happened suddenly that their SPG was removed? Why was there a need for the withdrawal," Chowdhury questioned.

Describing the move as "arbitrary", the Congress in the notice said the security cover was withdrawn ignoring the existing and probable threats to the Gandhi family. An adjournment motion is moved to stop the proceedings of the House to take up the issue raised in the motion.

On Monday, the first day of the Winter Session, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had raised the issue of SPG security, saying the move to withdraw the cover of party chief Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi was "arbitrary".

The government earlier this replaced the SPG security cover given to the family of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by LTTE terrorists on May 21, 1991, by the 'Z-plus' security of the CRPF.

The security of the Gandhi family is now being taken over by commandos trained by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Recently, the government had downgraded the security cover of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Manmohan Singh's security cover was downgraded from SPG to Z-plus, reports said.