Union Home Ministry has pruned the security list of VIPs in the Z and Z-Plus categories and has removed kins of former minister Shivraj Patil besides shifting some retired bureaucrats to Y Category.

Surprisingly, the Ministry has not touched any political stalwarts like RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav, and more interestingly former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, who fell out of favour from the Government after his name surfaced in the oil-for-food scam in Iraq.

LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan as also Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Shivraj Patil remain in the Z category, in which 45 guards are used at a time to protect the VIP.

Surprisingly, former bureaucrats including retired Home Secretaries V K Duggal and Dhirendra Singh, and retired CBI Director Vijay Shanker Tiwari have been brought under Y-Special category security cover, a Home Ministry official said and wondered how this could have happened when complete withdrawal of their security had been recommended.

Former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission K C Pant as well as Shivraj Patil's daughter-in-law, grand-children and his daughter's father-in-law have been removed from the Z and Z-Plus categories.

After complete revamp of X and Y categories, it was expected that Home Minister P Chidambaram, may make radical changes in Z category as he had expressed his opinion that security should be provided only to those who either face credible threats or hold Constitutional posts.

The Home Ministry bureaucrats had recommended withdrawal of security provided by the elite NSG for some VIPs including Mayawati and downgrading the cover for several dignitaries.

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