As the 2019 Lok Sabha election approaches, some rare photographs from the 1996 election campaign, which saw a Bharatiya Janata Party prime minister for the first time in India's history, albeit only for 13 days.
"We urge the government that the issue of security of our leaders has to be beyond partisan political considerations," said Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi's padyatra has grabbed the headlines and the imagination of many. As he sweats it out in the dust and heat of Uttar Pradesh's villages, travelling on foot from one village to another across four districts, there are a group of people who silently oversee it all.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday claimed that Hari Mohan Sharma, the man who was nabbed with a gun at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's padayatra, was innocent. Sharma was detained while trying to move close to the Congress general secretary during the latter's padayatra to Aligarh. Sharma, who was carrying a .32 bore revolver, was nabbed by the Special Protection Group personnel when he was found nearing the second ring of the Congress leader's security cordon.
Prasad, a 1981 batch IPS officer who is at present posted as Additional Director General of Police (Sports) in AP, has however no previous experience in the SPG, a force which was primarily created to guard the Prime Minister of the country and their immediate family members.
'The Punjab police was taking the prime minister by road for 100 km for the first time, maybe in the last many years.' 'But the SPG keeps travelling with the prime minister every second-third day outside Delhi.' 'They are better aware of the drill; they understand the PM's security parameters better than the Punjab police.' 'They could have refused even if the clearance was given by the Punjab police.'
In a security scare, a youth carrying a pistol on Thursday attempted to enter a ground where Rahul Gandhi was addressing a public meeting and was detained by police.
Speculation is rife that Trump may skip Sabarmati Ashram to make time for a visit to Agra, Vinay Umarji reports.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday visited the Tirupati temple. He went barefoot to the temple, as per rituals, and performed circumambulations (walking around the temple) twice.Steadfastly sticking to the rituals, the PM took a bath and removed his shoes and socks before entering the temple. He performed the circumambulation of the holy dwajathsthambam (flag post) twice.
The Centre is likely to take up with the Uttar Pradesh government the issue of "security breach" during Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's visit to Allahabad as initial report suggested that police "failed" to control protesters who tried to stop the Special Protection Group protectee's car.
SPG Act tweaked to ensure that commandoes accompany protectees overseas as well.
Chowdhury said the family faces threat to life and the cover by the elite security organisation should not have been withdrawn.
The Intelligence Branch had submitted a report to the state stating that as many as three organisations are planning large-scale gatherings at the airport and on the roads and show black flags to the prime minister.
Sources said that a security breach was alleged when the laser light was seen pointed at the head of Rahul during the roadshow.
K Vijay Kumar has been appointed the new director general of the Central Reserve Police Force. Vijay, who was reportedly handpicked by Home Minister P Chidambaram for the job, will replace Vikram Shrivatsava as the CRPF DG.Vijay Kumar is presently the director of the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. He has earlier served in the elite Special Protection Group and was part of the special team to tackle sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, who was later killed in In
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled up a Special Protection Group commando on Thursday for coming in the way of television cameras.
Relenting on account of mounting criticism, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati finally gave her nod to a press conference by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Lucknow on Tuesday.
"Be it Delhi or Maharashtra, the atmosphere should be fear-free. It is the responsibility of the rulers to create such an atmosphere that those in public life can work fearlessly. There is no objection to withdrawing the security cover when such atmosphere prevails," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
The mobile phone of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was stolen from his checked-in baggage at the Delhi Airport last week, after he arrived in New Delhi from London.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi once again broke through the Special Protection Group security cordon and interacted with family members of a vendor in a hut before his election rally at a ground in Jehanabad, Bihar.
Opposition leaders also raised the issue of MPs not being allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of its special status, whereas parliamentarians from Europe have been taken to the state, with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury describing the EU delegation as 'bhade ke tattu' (hirelings).
Hours before the prime minister's departure for Copenhagen, a cargo van brushed against the PM's special aircraft, Air India One, causing a dent. Sources said the PM was not in the aircraft when the incident took place
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached Ahmedabad over an hour before Trump did, was present at the airport to welcome the US president at the airport.
The latest gadget in the armour of Special Protection Group, the crack commando force that protects the Prime Minister and four other VVIPs, are electronic stunners that look just like an ordinary laptop.
Sources said Prabhakaran could never have been captured alive because of care he took to have a cyanide capsule on his body 25 years ago. The slain LTTE supremo believed that it was better to commit suicide than to be captured alive and that is why the Sri Lankan army could only recover his body after smashing the LTTE completely.
Modi was stated to have been held up at the place for nearly 15 minutes because of Mohsin's "actions". The officer allegedly checked PM's chopper in violation of norms.
The Congress party on Friday advised Uttar Pradesh government to strengthen its intelligence network, which proved to be a failure during the recent surprise visit of the party general secretary Rahul Gandhi to rural areas in the eastern part of the state.
With the removal of Singh's SPG cover, the top notch security cover will now be given only to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Gandhi family -- Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children, Rahul and Priyanka.
Prime Minister Modi will address three rallies -- at Dehri-on Sone (Rohtas district), Gaya and Bhagalpur -- to seek support for National Democratic Alliance nominees on different assembly constituencies going to vote in the first phase on October 28. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also slated to launch his campaign in Bihar elections on Friday.
The 3,000-strong force, plus its highly trained dog squad, is responsible solely for the protection of one person: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.
This will be after over two decades that the 'black cat' commandos of the elite counter-terror force will be taken out from VIP protection duties, a task not originally charted for it when the force was conceptualised and raised in 1984.
R Rajagopalan reveals the BJP's master plan to get Modi re-elected.
The Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi express in which Rahul Gandhi was travelling was stoned tonight near Panipat, about 100 km from here, and the All India Congress Committee general secretary was not in the three compartments which was hit. There were no immediate reports of any injury to passengers while Special Protection Group sources said there was no threat to Rahul in the incident.
With the Special Protection Group (SPG) planning to have its own aircraft, the government has increased the elite force's budgetary allocation by 28 per cent for the next fiscal.
The focus of the questioning is Tyagi's alleged links with Italian middlemen -- Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschkhe, CBI sources said.
In a move that is bound to irk Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once again joined a Dalit family for dinner in a village in Amethi on Friday night.
Amidst heightened security threat to VIPs, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a high-level meeting was held on Friday to review their security.
The renovation of the property is underway, encompassing painting of walls, cleaning, and other necessary repairs befitting the new entrant's stature and requirements. The bungalow, spread over about 1.5 acres, belongs to the family of veteran Congress leader the late Sheila Kaul, who was the sister-in-law of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
Security agencies have earlier expressed apprehensions that exposure of high-profile leaders to unscreened masses was a major security risk.
However, the Intelligence Bureau confirmed that the intruder was a drunken Delhi police constable who was behaving in a suspicious manner and tried to get past the first security cordon of the prime minister's residence.
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