Suvendu Adhikari gets 'Z' category VIP security cover
New Delhi, Dec 18: Former TMC MLA Suvendu Adhikari has been accorded a 'Z' category VIP security cover by the central government, official sources said on Friday.
They said Adhikari, 50, will be secured by armed commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) whenever he moves in West Bengal.
The Union home ministry has issued an order in this context, the sources said.
At all places except West Bengal, they said, he will have a 'Y+' cover by the central paramilitary force.
Adhikari, a former minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had resigned from the primary membership of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday.
He had resigned as an MLA a day before and it is expected that he may join the BJP on Saturday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will begin a two-day tour of the state from Saturday.
Under the 'Z' category, Adhikari will have a mobile team of about 6-7 armed CRPF commandos and a pilot and escort vehicle.
A report of the central security agencies on probable threats against Adhikari was analysed before the security was granted to him, they said.
The Union home ministry, early this week, also upgraded the VIP security cover of BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya with the addition of a "bullet resistant" car in his convoy during tour in West Bengal.
An official had said that Vijayvargiya's (64) security upgrade was done "keeping his mind the security requirements of the protectee in the wake of the recent attack on his vehicle that was part of a convoy of BJP president J P Nadda".
Vijayvargiya, a general secretary of the party and in-charge of BJP affairs in West Bengal, is protected by the CISF.
Shah and BJP president J P Nadda are some of the other protectees under the CRPF cover.
In a similar development, the home ministry has also provided a 'Y' category VIP security cover to BJP MP from Maharashtra Narayan Rane.
Rane, 68, will be secured by the CISF on an all-India basis and will have two security personnel with him during his movements, officials said.
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Ruckus outside counting centre in Mamata's constituency, TMC claims entry of car with BJP flag
Kolkata (PTI): The counting centre at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Bhabanipur assembly constituency witnessed a ruckus a day ahead of the counting of votes, with TMC workers alleging two cars bearing the BJP's flag were allowed entry to the compound where EVMs are kept.
The incident comes close on the heels of a four-hour-long sit-in by Banerjee in front of the same counting centre at the Sakhawat Memorial Girls School on Thursday night, alleging unauthorised entry of persons into the strongroom.
With the polling now over, the wrangling for power in West Bengal has turned into a battle of nerves between the incumbent TMC and the BJP. Workers and leaders of both parties have been keeping a steely gaze on the security of strongrooms across the state where the electoral fate of the candidates is sealed.
Despite expressing her confidence in a "landslide victory", Banerjee has repeatedly aired her apprehensions of "counting malpractice and EVM tampering ahead of the day of results".
On Sunday morning, TMC workers camping 100 metres from the counting centre alleged that two cars with BJP flags entered the premises and went near the strongroom.
"The CAPF personnel at the spot are not allowing any vehicle or person to enter the premises of the counting centre without valid identity proof. Then how come this car, which we have not seen in the past few days, was allowed entry? Once we protested, the central forces asked us to move 100 metres away," a TMC activist said.
The TMC claimed that while the police personnel posted there promised the vehicle would be removed from the spot, it remained there for some time.
A senior Election Commission official said the car was passing by the Harish Mukherjee Road, and after checking by security forces and police, it was allowed to leave as nothing objectionable was found in it.
On Thursday night, two counting centres, including one at Sakhawat Memorial Girls School in the city, witnessed high drama after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
TMC leaders and candidates, Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh, held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents
In Howrah, TMC protested renovation work by the public works department at a place adjacent to the strongroom, and the EC stopped the work temporarily.
On Saturday, the ruling party filed a complaint with the poll panel, alleging unauthorised sorting of postal ballot covers at the EVM strongroom in Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.
Similar scenes were witnessed on Saturday outside the strongrooms at Asansol College in Paschim Bardhaman and the Barasat Government College in North 24 Parganas districts, where TMC workers held protests, alleging that CCTV cameras were switched off for several minutes.
The EC turned down all allegations, saying the surveillance cameras were working in an uninterrupted manner.
BJP spokesperson Sajal Ghosh told reporters that the people of Bengal were finding it "hilarious" that the TMC, "which used to win elections through unfair means and strongarm tactics" were now coming up with all sorts of "frivolous charges".
"Are they scared of losing?" he posed.
