Priyanka Gandhi’s security breached in Lucknow, man climbs dais to ‘meet’ her

As the 135th Foundation Day programmes of the Congress were underway at the party's Uttar Pradesh headquarters in Lucknow, a man donning a a turban and a Congress flag stole, broke the security cordon and reached dangerously close to Priyanka Gandhi who was sitting on the stage, looking in another direction.

Though alarmed for a few seconds, Priyanka Gandhi was quick to stop the party workers security personnel from manhandling the ‘intruder’ as they came swooping down. Yet again displaying her kind and humanitarian nature, she held the hand of the man and calmly spoke with him for a few minutes before he went back.

However, people have been shocked at the security breach as the threat perception to the Gandhi family is perceived very high.

ANI Editor Smita Prakash pointed out that it was dangerous for Priyanka Gandhi to entertain the intruder as Prakash recalled that the assassin of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Priyanka’s father, had come close to him on the pretext of garlanding him.

The government last month withdrew the Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover of the Gandhis -- Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka -- and downgraded it to ‘Z-plus’ category.

The man was identified as Gurmeet Singh, who claimed to be a party worker and wanted to meet Priyanka Gandhi.

According to Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh, Gurmeet is a resident of Kanpur and has been associated with the party for a long time.

Congress leaders saw the incident as a security breach of Priyanka Gandhi.