Priyanka requests SPG to withdraw special airport privileges for her, Vadra

As controversy brews around the special privileges extended to Priyanka Gandhi and husband Robert Vadra, today Priyanka wrote the Special Protection Group (SPG) asking it to withdraw all such exemptions at airports. However, SPG sources told CNN-IBN that it will consult intelligence agencies over removing these privileges. [caption id=“attachment_1488015” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Priyanka Gandhi. AFP[/caption] In her letter, Priyanka clarified that she had never sought these privileges. She also said that the SPG had provided it of its own accord. Priyanka said Vadra’s inclusion on that list came about at the instance of previous SPG chiefs and Delhi Police and not upon any request by “either of us who were informed after the fact”. Vadra was under repeated attack from Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders during the recent election campaign besides the barbs targeting Priyanka besides Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “Since the government is now reportedly considering the removal of his name, I would like to inform you that I do not feel it will be correct for my children and me to avail of the facility of exemption of these checks while entering or exiting the airport when we are all travelling together,” she wrote. “It is only right for us to go through the normal channel at the airport and be frisked etc. as per normal procedure at such times as you will appreciate that it makes no sense for a family travelling together to fall under different categories of exemption,” Priyanka said. She recalled that the facility for Vadra was done ostensibly to facilitate the coordination of the two separate security agencies at the airport when they travelled together. “Ever since then, it has been a source of constant embarrassment for my husband who has asked me on numerous occasions to have it removed as, in any case, he goes through the full security check and procedure from the normal channel every time he is traveling on his own. “I had verbally conveyed this to the previous Director and the AIG, SPG., in charge of my security detail on a number of occasions but no action was ever taken on it,” Gandhi said. Gandhi said she would appreciate if the SPG could put this into practice as soon as the government order canceling her husband’s exemption comes into force. “I would also request you to ensure that when we are entering or exiting the boarding gates there is no disturbance to other passengers and that my security detail behaves in a manner that is discreet and strictly unobtrusive,” she said adding “Thank you for your co-operation and understanding.” On Thursday, the new Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati had hinted that the privileges provided to Priyanka and her husband may be rethought, IBNLive had reported. Robert Vadra is currently allowed an exemption if he is travelling with an SPG protectee. Pusapati said, “Security should be meaningful and not ornamental. It will depend on whether the Home Ministry feels there is a threat perception, and I am not talking about Vadra, we’ll have to see.” Vadra currently is in the VIP list and enjoys the privilege of going unchecked at airports. The change of guard at the Centre, however, can change the privileges he used to get as the husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who is an SPG protectee. Earlier, various passenger bodies had also objected to Vadra being exempted from frisking at airports. RTI applications too had been filed in this regard. According to a Times of India report, last week, the Air Passengers’ Association of India had written to aviation secretary Ashok Lavasa questioning why Vadra was getting a special privilege that is otherwise reserved for Constitutional authorities only. With inputs from PTI