The couple’s Z+ security cover was significantly scaled down following a review by the state government earlier. The decision had triggered a fierce political controversy.
The Bihar government has accorded Z category security to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife, former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, roughly a month after downgrading their security cover.
They have also been provided with bulletproof cars. The couple’s Z+ security cover was significantly scaled down following a review by the state government earlier. The decision had triggered a fierce political controversy.
To lodge a symbolic protest, they had returned the remaining government security personnel who were allotted to their respective security details.
The RJD had alleged that the security reduction was aimed at targeting opposition leaders. The party claimed the NDA government in Bihar wanted to diminish the stature of key opposition figures by reducing the size of their security covers.
The Bihar government had later said that the changes were part of a routine review conducted on the basis of threat perception assessments.
Lalu Yadav’s younger son, ex-Deputy CM and current Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, had also returned his government-provided security in protest of the move. However, it was clarified by officials that there was no change in his security arrangement.
The Bihar government’s decision to accord Z category security to Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi coincides with the couple shifting to a privately-owned accommodation.
On Thursday, Rabri Devi shifted to her own house, giving up 10, Circular Road, the government bungalow in Patna that had been her residence, as well as the camp office of the RJD, for nearly two decades.