Endorsing the claim recently made by Maharashtra Police in Pune, the Union home ministry and the National Security Council (NSC) have said that the threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is at an "all-time high". The home ministry has sent out a warning note to states spelling out security protocol that has to be strictly followed during PM Modi's visits.

The home ministry has laid down that no one is allowed to come too close to PM Modi physically without due security clearance. Even ministers and officers have to be cleared by Special Protection Group (SPG) staff before they can come close to PM Modi.

At the same time, PM Modi has also been advised by security agencies either to curtail his roadshows in the run up to assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2019 or cut down on the number and the length of the roadshows. The agencies suspect that the planned and publicised routes of Modi's roadshows are likely to present a threat.

Earlier, Maharashtra Police had claimed that documents seized from suspected Maoist operatives revealed an assassination plot to target PM Modi. They claimed that a letter talked about a "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident" to assassinate PM Modi during his roadshows.

The fear that a "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident" may well be on the radar of terror groups gained currency from an incident in West Bengal, were a man was able to break through the six-layered security of PM Modi to touch his feet last month.

Now, the home ministry has written to all state police chiefs warning them about an "unknown threat" to Modi, who has been the chief campaigner for the BJP across the country for all state elections.

PM Modi is all set to spearhead the Lok Sabha election campaign next year and in Naxal-affected states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh before the general elections.

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