PMs wife first SPG protectee to have women commandos

A senior official said the SPG planned to deploy women commandos for Priyanka Vadra next.

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs wife has become the first Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee to have women commandos in her immediate security cordon. Two women commandos were seen guarding Gursharan Kaur at a function organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) in Delhi on Friday.

The commandos were clad in navy blue safari suits and had wireless devices plugged in their ears. There were male commandos in another security cordon.

Sources confirmed this was the first time that the SPG had engaged women commandos for a woman protectee. A senior official said the SPG planned to deploy women commandos for Priyanka Vadra next. Officials declined to say whether women commados would be included in Sonia Gandhis security cordon as well.

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The 3,000-strong SPG,which was raised after the assassination of Indira Gandhi,is mandated to secure serving and former prime ministers and members of their immediate families. The women commandos,all under the age of 30,have been drawn from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and trained by the SPG.

The National Security Guard had offered to deploy women commandos to secure former UP chief minister Mayawati and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa,both of whom were,however,reluctant to have them.

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