By IANS,
New Delhi : Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj Wednesday questioned the manner in which Home Minister P. Chidambaram “leaked” to the media a confidential letter written to her about BJP MP Varun Gandhi’s security.
In a letter that was given wide publicity, Chidambaram clarified to Swaraj that the level of security provided to Varun Gandhi was being “periodically reviewed”.
Swaraj, the deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, had Tuesday raised in the house the issue of a threat to the young MP’s life and the need to improve his protection.
“This confidential letter was written by the home minister but was leaked to the media. Who broke the sanctity to confidentiality?” asked Swaraj in a press conference in an apparent reference to the home minister.
Swaraj said she would not have shared this view with the media but was forced to raise it because the letter was leaked.
“Whether he wants to score a point or seriously wants to discuss the issue� He could have avoided writing a letter and could have called me,” Swaraj added.
“He is behaving contrary to what he said. The letter should not have been leaked to the media,” she added.
Chidambaram wrote to her: “While I would be happy to respond in the house and disclose the level of security provided to Varun Gandhi, I thought that would defeat the very purpose of providing security to Varun Gandhi. I, therefore, suggest that, if you wish, you may kindly meet me and I shall take you into confidence about the security cover provided to Varun Gandhi.”
“I may add that the government has acted on the letter dated March 20 by Varun Gandhi and has also taken into account the inputs provided by the intelligence agencies. As in the case of every other protected person, the level of security provided to Varun Gandhi is periodically reviewed,” the home minister wrote.
“Varun Gandhi met me on June 15. He has not written to me since on the subject,” he added.
Varun Gandhi, who represents the Lok Sabha’s Pilibhit constituency, Uttar Pradesh, alleged last week that members of underworld mobster Chhota Shakeel’s gang were plotting to kill him while his mother and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the home ministry was treating the threats to his life casually.
However, after conducting an appraisal of the threat perception, the home ministry decided his current security cover will remain in the Y category.
The Y category has a security cover of 11 personnel, while those in the Z plus category have over 30 personnel tailing the protected person and providing proximate security cover.