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Withdraw security, Rajagopal writes to Antony

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD, APRIL 6. The Union Minister of State for Defence, O. Rajagopal, who is contesting to the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, has written to the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, to withdraw the Z category security provided to him in the wake of criticism by his Left Democratic Front (LDF) rival, P.K. Vasudevan Nair.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr. Rajagopal said he had not asked for police security and it was provided to him even before he became a Union Minister of State on the basis of assessments made by Central Intelligence agencies. The security was provided to him by the then Home Minister, Indrajit Gupta, when the United Front was in power. In fact, the police escort and other security measures hamper his free movement and meeting the people during the election campaign.

Pointing out that the LDF had petitioned the Election Commission that he was accepting petitions, Mr. Rajagopal said he had not made any promises or asked people to give memorandum. They are giving it on their own and this cannot be described as a violation of the code of conduct for the elections.

About the LDF criticism that he was visiting places of worship, Mr. Rajagopal said that as a believer in God he used to visit places of worship of all religions. ``I had been to Beemapally after the mosque authorities there invited me. They showed me the places and explained their mode of worship. How could this become a violation of the code of conduct,'' he asked.

Earlier, Mr. Rajagopal inaugurated the new district committee office of the BJP, Amrit Bhavan, in the town. He also inaugurated an election convention of the BJP's Palakkad Lok Sabha candidate, C. Udyabhaskar, at the Town Hall.

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