CHANDIGARH: Punjab Police have ordered withdrawal of security cover of 184 former ministers and
Ex-MLAs, other political leaders, families of former chief ministers and other ministers.
The security cover of Raninder Singh son of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the family of former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Puneet Kaur wife of former minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon and daughter of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Charanjit Kaur Bajwa wife of Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, Arjun Badal son of former finance minister Manpreet Badal, Udaybir Singh son of former Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa and Sidhant Chattopadhyay son of former DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyay has been withdrawn.
The security cover was withdrawn on basis of a letter issued by the additional director general of police (security) on April 20 was sent to senior police officers, including police commissioners and senior superintendents of police which also stated that the personnel deployed on specific orders of the courts,
however, would not be withdrawn.
The security cover of former ministers Surjit Kumar Rakhra, Sucha Singh Chhotepur, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Tota Singh and Gulzar Singh Ranike who are akali dal leaders have been withdrawn.
The BJP leaders whose security cover was withdrawn include former minister Madan Mohan Mittal,
Punjab BJP general secretary Jiwan Gupta, former Punjab BJP chief Rajinder Bhandari, and Rajesh Bagga, Mahi Gill who was the star campaigner for BJP in the state assembly polls.
Prominent among those who stand to lose there are Rajeev Shukla, former MP and former chairman of IPL, Punjab Youth Congress President Barinder Dhillon, former Punjab CM’s political adviser Captain Sandeep Sandhu, former Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, former Jathedar of Patna Sahib Giani Iqbal Singh, and some SGPC members, including Amarjit Singh Chawla, Surjit Singh Garhi and
retired Additional DGP R P Mittal.
The security of former SAD and Congress MLAs, including Gobind Singh Longowal, Jeet Mohinder Singh, Karan Kaur Brar, Balbir Singh Ghunas, Deep Malhotra, Mantar Singh Brar, Joginder Pal Jain, Arvind Khanna, and Sarabjit Makkar was also withdrawn. Last month, police had withdrawn the security cover of former ministers and MLAs.