File Photo: Lok Sabha MP Pappu Yadav
The BJP today defended the 'Y' category security accorded to Pappu Yadav saying the Centre must have taken into account the threat to the Jan Adhikar Party founder before extending the said security cover to him.
"It's the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA's) jurisdiction to review security measures for elected representatives and other persons. It must have given due consideration to the threat perception to Pappu Yadav before according 'Y' category security cover to him," senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters.
Mr Yadav, who was elected as the Lok Sabha MP on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket from Madhepura and subsequently founded Jan Adhikar Party after being expelled by his parent party, was accorded 'Y' category security by the MHA two days ago.
This happened two days after he had met the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to apprise him about law and order problems in Bihar.
The Jan Adhikar Party founding leader has been spewing venon on the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad ever since he was expelled from the party a couple of months ago and was seen as indirectly veering towards the NDA.
Mr Yadav, a multi-term Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, has also strongly backed the former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. He had approached the NDA leadership to anoint the Mahadalit leader as its chief ministerial face for the upcoming assembly polls.
To another question on induction of Sabir Ali in the BJP, Mr Modi said Mr Ali has a decade-old political past and has no criminal antecedents.