Cong's Azad on Rahul snooping row: No 'routine' security check on me ever!

March 16, 2015

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad takes up the issue of the alleged 'snooping' on Rahul Gandhi. Azad said that he has been under Z-plus security for 19 years, but no such routine security check was conducted on him ever. "I haven't seen the proforma in the last 35 years in my years as a minister," said Azad.

Terming the incident "Snoopgate 2", Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday that the prime minister needed to explain why the government needed details of a person protected by the Special Protection Group.

The NDA govt has said that the proforma used to profile a leader was revised in 1999 and leaders profiled include BJP veteran L K Advani in 2011; External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in 2013; Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in 2009; former prime ministers H D Deva Gowda and I K Gujaral in 2011; and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in 2007.