SPG cover for Modi's wife, mother

New Delhi: Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi’s wife and mother will also get the Special Protection Group (SPG) security soon after he takes oath as India's 14th prime minister on May 26, security officials said.

“Modi's mother Hiraben and wife Jashodaben will also be provided SPG security. But his three brothers and two sisters will be get Z-category security, provided by the state police,” an official, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.

Modi’s wife and mother as well as his brothers and sisters live in Gujarat. Modi and his wife live separately.

Sources said SPG commandos have already been sent to Gujarat to assess security requirements for guarding his mother and wife.

The state police have also been directed to assess the security of his brothers and sisters and then accordingly provide them security, officials said.

His elder brother, Soma, is a retired health department official, who now runs an old age home in Ahmedabad. Modi is next in the line. The third one, Prahlad, owns a shop in Ahmedabad, while the fourth one Pankaj is a clerk in the Information Department of Gujarat government in Gandhinagar.

Modi's mother stays with Soma, while his wife, a retired school teacher, lives in Rajosana village in Banaskantha district in Palanpur.

According to the SPG Act, India’s prime minister and members of his immediate family are provided security cover by the elite commando group who are specially trained in VIP security.

Another SPG official said that Modi faces major threat to his life and around 1,000 Black Cat commandos will be deployed at Modi's official residence at 7, Race Course, his office in South Block after he takes oath May 26.

Currently, SPG cover is being given to outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

IANS