Delhi: Responding to Congress president Robert Vadra, who pressed the government to take his name off the elite "no frisking" list at the domestic airports, MoS Civil Aviation said on Monday that Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law must submit the same in writing.
“If he wants to continue or withdraw facility, he must write letter to Home Ministry or us,” Mahesh Sharma said, as per ANI.
"Let Mr Vadra give in writing that he doesn't want to be included in the VIP list, I will remove his name in three days. Rather than writing on Facebook, he could have written to me," Sharma added, as per PTI.
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.
"Plan to visit every terminal in the Airports in India and add a white tape on my name from the VVIP list and my signature on top. So look out," Vadra wrote in his status message on the Facebook.
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 an SPG protectee.
The issue of Vadra's exemption from frisking and checking at airport has been raised many times.
Significantly, 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 earlier said.
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.
The Home Ministry had recently asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to go ahead with its plan to review the list of 33 categories of people, including the Dalai Lama and Vadra.
(With Agency inputs)
