As Priyanka Gandhi hits the campaign trail for the crucial Assembly elections, the Intelligence Bureau has shot off an urgent missive to the five poll-bound states sounding a threat from ISI-backed terror outfits. Priyanka Gandhi is expected to extensively campaign in Uttar Pradesh in the coming days.
The IB advisory says Special Protection Group (SPG) protectees, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Priyanka Gandhi will be regularly on the election campaign tours. Available inputs indicate that Pakistan’s ISI has got in touch with its operatives in Nepal and would try to target not only the SPG protectees but also the 12 Central Z-plus category protectees including senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The IB, in its letter, has said that “all garlands and other campaign material handed over to the protectee must be sanitised before reaching the protectee”. It said that leaders are particularly vulnerable during the “road shows’’ and “mixing with crowds’’.
It says that “out of the vehicle’’ exposure of the protectee during road shows must be minimised and a protective ring around the protectee should be ensured during the period of the exposure. The IB has also asked state police forces to ensure complete sanitisation of the road show routes and front portion of the public enclosures during the rallies. Physical proximity to the protectee from “all others’’ barring his security detail must be minimised to the maximum extent possible, it has said. The IB has also said that the local police must ensure that any suspicious movement at any site of the rallies or road shows should be immediately communicated to the central agencies.
Security agencies are already on high alert and are keeping a strict vigil on bordering districts of Uttar Pradesh touching Nepal border.