Rahul Gandhi Thanks SPG 'Brothers & Sisters' for Protecting Him and Family after Withdrawal of Security Cover

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday thanked those who looked after his security as part of the Special Protection Group (SPG) cover, hours after sources said the government would withdraw the SPG cover for the Gandhi family.

"A big thank you to all my brothers and sisters in the SPG who worked tirelessly to protect me and my family over the years," said Rahul Gandhi in a tweet, adding that it has been a privilege and wishing the SPG personnel for their future.

Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi, and sister Priyanka Gandhi will now get 'Z+' security by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on an all-India basis. Although the Gandhis have not been informed of the decision yet, CRPF personnel have already been stationed at the 10 Janpath residence.

The decision, the sources said, was taken after multiple security agencies carried out a threat perception assessment and found there was no direct threat to them. “Recently, a decision was taken after assessing threat inputs from all agencies,” senior officials aware of the developments said.

The move has been criticised by the Congress, with its workers demonstrating outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence here on Friday. The party has described the withdrawal as political vendetta".

The SPG cover is the highest tier of security in the country. Officials assured that the security of the Gandhi family will not be compromised. The government had recently also withdrawn the SPG cover of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Gandhis will be without SPG protection after 28 years. They were included in the VVIP security list following an amendment in September 1991 in the SPG Act of 1988.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now be the only person being protected by the elite SPG commandos.