Bihar Government Grants Z-Category Security to Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi

The Bihar government has restored Z-category security to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, nearly a month after scaling down their security cover.

The couple has also been provided with bulletproof vehicles. The move comes after the state government had earlier downgraded the security arrangements of the two senior RJD leaders following a review based on threat perception, a decision that sparked a political row.

In protest against the downgrade, Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi had returned the remaining government security personnel assigned to them. The RJD alleged that the NDA government was deliberately reducing the security of opposition leaders to undermine their political stature.

The Bihar government, however, maintained that the changes were part of a routine security review carried out in line with threat assessment protocols and denied any political motive.

Lalu Yadav’s younger son and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, had also returned his government-provided security personnel in solidarity with his parents. Officials later clarified that there had been no change in Tejashwi’s security cover.

The restoration of Z-category security comes as Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi have shifted to their privately owned residence in Patna.

On Thursday, Rabri Devi vacated the government bungalow at 10, Circular Road, which had served as her official residence and the RJD’s camp office for nearly two decades. She had occupied the bungalow in her capacity as a former chief minister.

She was asked to vacate the residence in November last year after being allotted alternative government accommodation as part of an exercise to reallocate official residences following the induction of new ministers into the state cabinet.

Officials had said at the time that Rabri Devi, as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council, was entitled to a different category of government housing.