Maha govt slashes Fadnavis' security cover; BJP says vendetta

The Uddhav Thackeray-led ShivSena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra has scaled downthe security of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and afew other leaders in the state, an official said.

The BJP reacted strongly to the development, withstate unit chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye terming theaction unfortunate and a 'vendetta' of the ruling coalitionagainst his party's leaders.

The state government announced in a circular that ithas decided to trim the security cover of Fadnavis, who is nowthe Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and ofhis family, and also that of former Uttar Pradesh governor RamNaik and MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

The government has also decided to withdraw thesecurity cover of state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and formerminister Sudhir Mungantiwar, also of the BJP.

The decision was taken after a review of the securitycover provided to various persons the state, the governmentsaid.