NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sanctioned the ‘X-category’ security protection to Rekha Patra, who led the protests against suspended TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, officials said on Tuesday.
The BJP has fielded Patra as its candidate from the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in the state to reap electoral dividend out of her popularity among anti-TMC voters in the state.
Voting in Basirhat will take place on June 1, the last phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Patra has been pitted against TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam, who was nominated after current MP and Bengali actor Nusrat Jahan was dropped from the list of candidates.
Commandos from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will provide security to the Sandeskhali survivor, the officials said, adding that the MHA took the decision to provide the ‘X-category’ protection to her following an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report that indicated threat to her life.
Besides Patra, the MHA also accorded security cover by the central forces to five other BJP leaders, they informed.
The ‘X-category’ security cover was provided to Pranat Tudu, the BJP’s candidate from Jhargram, as well as to Nirmal Saha contesting from Bahrampur, Ashok Kandari from Jaynagar and Ashok Purkait from Mathurapur.
Meanwhile, the Raiganj BJP candidate Karthik Paul was given the ‘Y-category’ security protection.
Since the announcement of Lok Sabha elections earlier this month, the MHA has provided security to more than two dozen BJP leaders in West Bengal. Currently, more than 100 BJP leaders have got security protection from the Central government. CISF commandos of the VIP security wing of the force provide security to these leaders.