New Delhi: Now, it transpires the black SUV that drove unannounced into Priyanka Gandhi’s residence was mistaken by the CRPF security for Rahul’s car.
Home Minister Amit Shah also seemed to suggest that, when he told Parliament that the security breach was an "unlikely coincidence" of Congress workers arriving an SUV similar to the one in which Rahul Gandhi was expected at around that time.
According to Shah, Rahul was scheduled to visit his sister Priyanka at the time the black Tata Safari drove in. The occupants of the car were Congress worker Sharda Tyagi and three others.
‘‘So the car got in without security checks. This kind of coincidence is rare but still we have ordered an inquiry and suspended three officers who were there. We did not want to take even a .001 per cent chance," said the Home Minister.
Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra, however, insisted it was a "very big" security lapse and said the SPG cover should not have been removed. Priyanka, in turn, was more reasonable and pointed out that the CRPF personnel, who have been assigned to protect her, were not as well trained as the SPG.
Shah also said changes in the SPG law were not meant to target one family. "We are not opposing the parivaar (family), but parivaar-vaad (nepotism). India's democracy cannot run like this.
Why talk of only the security of the Gandhi family? The security of 130 crore Indians, including the Gandhi family, is the government's responsibility," he said.
Meanwhile, Parliament has passed the legislation which seeks to provide the elite SPG security only to the prime minister and for a restricted period to ex-PMs.
The Congress, which alleged that the law governing the SPG was being changed to target the Gandhi family and will imperil the life of its leaders, expressed dissatisfaction with Shah's reply and staged a walkout along with some other opposition parties.
