Chandigarh, Aug 11 (IANS): Rejecting outright the charges of vindictiveness levelled against him for the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Partap Bajwa's security by the state, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday that it was a routine exercise based on a periodic review of the MP's threat assessment.

While his government would never deny security to any person genuinely in need, it could not afford to spare police personnel unnecessarily, particularly when the force was under severe stress amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister said in a statement here.

Pointing out that his government was providing security to the Badals in the view of specific threat inputs indicating a threat to their security, Amarinder Singh said that Bajwa's complaint on this account was "petty" and "frivolous", and not based on facts.

The Chief Minister said the high threat perception for the Badals had necessitated security for them by the Punjab Police, in addition to the Z-Plus security being provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

There was no comparison between their case and that of Bajwa, who was not a categorised protectee of the state government in the absence of any specific inputs indicating any threat to him from any terrorist or militant outfit operating in the country.

With Punjab Police intelligence showing that he was not facing any specific terrorist or militant threat, Bajwa was only entitled to the positional security cover of an MP, as provided in the state security policy approved by the Cabinet in 2013, he added.

He made it clear that his government could not afford to oblige Bajwa in this matter, given that the Punjab Police are currently neck deep in handing different kinds of security and other challenges as a border state, including Covid-19, cross-border terrorism, dropping of weapons and drugs across the Punjab border and the liquor mafia, especially at a time when nearly 1,000 cops have been infected by the virus.

The Chief Minister said that it was unfortunate that Bajwa had chosen to look at his security force as a symbol of prestige and birth-right, which is definitely not the case.