North-East Delhi MP and Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has asked the Union Home Ministry for additional security cover, citing threats to his safety.
Mr. Tiwari, who currently has a ‘Y’ category security cover, wrote to Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking to be allotted the next level of security cover, ‘Z’ category.
In his letter, Mr. Tiwari wrote that he has to travel to different States for election campaigning for the BJP.
Though he did not mention any details, he said two recent events — one in Kolkata during campaigning when the State government did not provide security and the crowd got rowdy, and the “hamla”, or attack, at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — proved that the current security cover was not enough.
He said he had filed complaints with the respective police stations about the incidents. He asked Mr. Singh to issue orders to the agency concerned for giving him ‘Z’ category cover.
‘A star campaigner’
When contacted, Mr. Tiwari said: “I am a star campaigner for the party. My presence can lead to people losing elections so it is natural that some people may have enmity towards me.”
Apart from the incident in Kolkata and at Mr. Kejriwal’s residence, the BJP leader said he had received a threatening call from an unknown number on Monday after he visited the family of Ankit Saxena, the 23-year-old who was killed last week.
He said he currently has six personnel, four of whom stay at his residence and two who travel with him.
‘Attack’ at CM’s house
On January 30, Mr. Tiwari had led a delegation of BJP MPs, MLAs and councillors to Mr. Kejriwal’s home in order to discuss the ongoing sealing drive in Delhi.
With AAP MLAs and TV cameras present, the CM asked the BJP leaders to sit and discuss the problem.
The BJP leaders objected to the presence of the MLAs and the media, and started to leave when some AAP MLAs raised slogans.
The BJP claimed that AAP MLAs attacked members of the delegation, including the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta. The Delhi Police lodged an FIR against five AAP MLAs. Mr. Tiwari was not among those injured, according to the FIR.
