For the second time in three days, Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra pressed the Government to take his name off the elite ‘no frisking’ list at the domestic airports.
Taking a dig at the government on the issue of his controversial exemption, Vadra said he plans to visit every airport terminal in the country and add a ‘white tape’ on his name from the VVIP list.
Vadra moved on to Facebook to get himself heard.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said he should have written to him rather than bringing up the matter through Facebook.
Let Mr Vadra give in writing that he doesn’t want to be included in the VIP list, I will remove his name in 3 days. Rather than writing on Facebook, he could have written to me.
– Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Civil Aviation
As of now, Vadra is not frisked at airports if he travels with an SPG protectee. If he is removed from the elite list, he would be subjected to frisking at all airports even if he travels with the SPG protection.
The issue of Vadra’s exemption from frisking and checking at airport has been raised many times. Government had recently said that there were no plans to remove his name from the list.
“We are not withdrawing Robert Vadra’s name from the list. It is not on our radar,” Sharma had said.
In an another facebook post where Vadra expressed his concerns.
The current no-frisk list includes the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Union Cabinet ministers, Leader of Opposition, Supreme Court judges, high court chief justices, chief ministers and their deputies, governors and ambassadors.
Those who are protected by the SPG, such as Vadra’s wife Priyanka Gandhi and brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi, are also not frisked.
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