Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has taken strong exception to an incident that occurred during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tiruchy on Friday, when members of his security detail prevented K Ramanujam, State Director General of Police (DGP), from receiving the PM at the airport.
Jayalalithaa urged Singh — in a letter dated August 3 — to look into the matter and ensure that no such lapses in protocol recur. Protocol demands that members of the State government officially receive the Prime Minister during formal visits. Singh had landed at the Tiruchy airport on his way to Thirumayam in Pudukkottai district to inaugurate a power plant piping unit and high pressure boiler unit of BHEL.
Jayalalithaa said she had deputed a six-member team, including DGP Ramanujam, to receive the PM at the airport on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government. While Ramanujam was walking towards the aircraft to formally receive the Prime Minister, he was “rudely accosted and prevented from approaching the aircraft by a lower level officer of the Special Protection Group, who was part of the security team on duty”, Jayalalithaa said in her letter.
The State had sent a detailed list of those who would receive the Prime Minister, and the PMO confirmed the list on August 1, she said. “Such an outrageous incident involving the DGP of Tamil Nadu, who was part of the confirmed list of persons for the reception and send-off line-up approved by the PMO, shows the SPG officers in poor light. It is most astonishing that the SPG could not recognise the top-most ranking police officer in the State, even while he was in uniform,” the letter said.