MHA: Rahul Gandhi SPG claims ‘baseless’

New Delhi: The home ministry has described as “baseless” allegations levelled by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi that a former director of the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) had to quit since he refused to appoint some officers whose names had been forwarded by the RSS. SPG is mandated with the task of providing security cover to the Prime Minister, former PMs and their family members.

While claiming that Mr Gandhi’s comments were “devoid of facts”, the home ministry said the SPG was a professional organisation. In a statement, the home ministry said, “The comment reportedly made by Mr Gandhi through the media is baseless, devoid of fact and unfortunate, coming from an SPG protectee.”

Apart from Mr Gandhi, the SPG also provides security cover to his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well as his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Officials clarified that the SPG was a highly professional organisation and takes its task of protecting serving Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their families very seriously and in the highest professional spirit. The SPG was raised through an Act of Parliament following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Act was subsequently amended to include former PMs and their family members in the list of SPG protectees following the killing of Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE militants.

The Ministry claimed that the entire issue had been verified and the concerned officer, Vivek Srivastava, who was a former SPG director, has ``specifically averred’’ that he never had any such conversation with Mr Gandhi. The concerned officer has clarified, official added, that while as part of his professional duties he did interact with SPG protectees but categorically denied ever discussing with Mr Gandhi the appointment of a new director or the reasons for his leaving the SPG.

Mr Gandhi had alleged on Saturday during an interaction with academicians that RSS was trying to systematically capture educational institutions, Supreme Court and Election Commission of India. The Congress leader had also claimed,`` When Mr Modi came to power, a person from Gujarat was chosen to head the SPG. In a short time, he left the position. He told me that he refused a list of SPG officers handpicked by the RSS, and that is why he was sent home.’’