Gandhi family will no longer have top level Special Protection Group (SPG) cover, the government decided today, basing it on a reassessment of their threat perception. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will now have Z Plus category security.

"A big thank you to all my brothers and sisters in the SPG who worked tirelessly to protect me and my family over the years. Thank you for your dedication, your constant support and for a journey filled with affection and learning. It has been a privilege. All the best for a great future," Rahul Gandhi, former Congress president, tweeted.

The SPG, an elite force of 3,000, are now tasked with protecting only Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The crack force has more personnel and also offers an Advance Liaison Team that screens places that the protectees will visit.

Congress workers protested outside Home Minister Amit Shah's residence in Delhi and party leaders slammed "vindictive politics" on social media and TV channels.

They are playing with the lives of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi," said a furious Congress, viewing the move as a "downgrading" of the security of the Gandhis, who have been under SPG cover since the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by an LTTE suicide-bomber in 1991.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are blinded by personal revenge and political vendetta in withdrawing SPG cover from Gandhis," workers of Congress Party alleged.