Home India Politics Mayawati renews demand for SPG cover

Mayawati renews demand for SPG cover

By IANS

Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday threatened to review her support to the central government unless she got the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) to protect her.

“My MPs and MLAs are terribly annoyed with the attitude of the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government over the question of providing SPG cover to me,” she told a press conference here.

“They have passed a resolution authorising me to take a decision on our party’s support to the government,” the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief added. She said she would take a decision on the matter after Jan 15.

Refusing to accept any reason for the denial of SPG cover – which protects only the prime minister, former prime ministers and their families – she said: “If the centre needs to amend the law, let them do it. But I must get a SPG cover.”

She refused to accept arguments that other political leaders too would demand SPG cover.

“So what if others also demand SPG security? Even they should be given the cover along with me,” she asserted.

Asked why she felt insecure in her own state, Mayawati said: “As a national leader I travel across the country where my state policemen have to function under constraints. So considering the fact that my life is under threat from terrorists, the central government must provide me SPG cover.”