From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 10:04 PM IST

The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh Tuesday sent a letter to the central home ministry, complaining that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was violating security norms during his visits to the state.

'The state government has made it clear to the centre that if Mr. Rahul Gandhi continued to bypass and violate laid down security rules, then the centre must not hold the state responsible in case there was any mishap,' Mayawati's trusted aide and state's Additional Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey said at a press conference here Tuesday.

Contradicting the Congress leader's claim that he always believed in strictly adhering to all security norms and that his chopper landed in sufficient light, he said: 'Since Mr. Rahul Gandhi is covered by SPG, there are certain norms which need to be observed, but it was a matter of deep concern for the state government that he has repeatedly violated these norms and rules.'

According to Pandey, the state government had raised its concern with the centre for the first time when the Congress general secretary visited Kanpur in October 2008.

'Subsequently, on Sep 25 ,2009, the chief minister herself wrote to the prime minister about violation of all security norms by Mr. Gandhi during his visit to the state two days earlier, when he landed unannounced at Lucknow airport and drove off in a private cab to undeclared destinations in rural areas.'

'Even yesterday (Monday) when he arrived in Uttar Pradesh on a two-day visit, we were informed only at the eleventh hour and that too was followed by several last minute changes in his schedule. Apart from landing in poor visibility, he did not use the bullet proof vehicle, specially requisitioned for him and chose to drive down in a private vehicle.'

Taking exception to the Congress leader's decision to drive down to Hardoi in the evening, he said: 'The road route which Mr. Gandhi chose to take from Sitapur to Hardoi at night was also not considered safe.'

The state government has also objected to Gandhi's waving out to people in Etah and shaking hands with the crowds outside the security ring . 'We have also drawn the centre's attention to his waving out at the crowds and going out of the way to shake hands with people,' Pandey said.

When Pandey's attention was drawn to Sitapur district magistrate's report, confirming Rahul's landing at 5.30 p.m., when visibility is reasonably good, he said: 'Well, because of a lot of trees around that area, visibility was low.'

(Staff Writer, © IANS)