By IANS
New Delhi : The government is planning to heighten the security of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani in the wake of intelligence inputs suggesting threat to his life from terrorists.
Informed sources said National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan met Advani and discussed the perception of threat to his life and the government’s plan to review his security.
Advani, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, symbolically kicks off his campaign tour called Sankalp Yatra (determination rally) with a public meeting at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh Wednesday. The former deputy prime minister plans to tour the entire country over the next 15 months to mobilise support for his party.
However, the home ministry is concerned about Advani’s security when going out on such tours.
The ministry had only last week reviewed the security of Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after intelligence inputs suggested that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), had tasked global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim with a mission to assassinate them.
The ministry regularly reviews security arrangements in respect of VIPs and others in the light of threat perceptions and inputs received from time to time.
“Based on the same inputs, appropriate security arrangements are made and advisories issued to concerned authorities from time to time. Protectees are also advised to take due precaution during their programmes and to also share information about programmes with concerned security agencies and state governments,” said a statement from the ministry.
“This is normal procedure which is being followed and action taken accordingly.”
For the moment the BJP has ruled out any change in Advani’s tour programme.
BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told IANS: “There is no change in Advani’s programme. He is beginning his Sankalp Yatra with a big rally in Jabalpur. All preparations for this rally have been fully made.”
But Javadekar refused to divulge the details of Advani’s schedule beyond Wednesday.
Even Advani’s personal secretary Deepak Chopra told IANS: “I can say only this much that there is no change in his (Advani’s) programme to address a pubic rally in Jabalpur tomorrow.
“Beyond this I can’t say anything about his future programme because in my knowledge no future programme has been finalised so far,” Chopra had told IANS.
“But this time around, the Sankalp Yatra will not be a continuous journey,” Sushma Swaraj, campaign in charge and party general secretary, explained.
BJP sources said the core committee of the party might meet Wednesday to decide whether he should continue his programme from Jabalpur onwards.
Chopra had refused to disclose whether Advani had been informed of the threat from intelligence agencies.
Advani had symbolically commenced his campaign rally with a rath yatra Feb 2 with a flag off from the party office by BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley and vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
His entry into Uttar Pradesh is slated for Feb 10 at Rampur where a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp was attacked Jan 1 by terrorists.