Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at a Congress meet (File Photograph)
The Congress today declared that contrary to the government's claims, party president Sonia Gandhi did not fill out a Delhi Police form that asks for respondents to list the colour of their hair, eyes, shoe size and any identification marks.
"Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi have never filled out these forms, so they gave a wrong statement," said Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress.
But NDTV has accessed a copy of the questionnaire completed on behalf of Sonia Gandhi in 1998. The document avers that Mrs Gandhi "speaks Hindi, English, Italian"; "uses spectacles for reading"; and wears sarees.
The form, completed by the staff of prominent politicians in Delhi, is an exercise initiated by Mrs Gandhi's husband, Rajiv, when he was Prime Minister in 1987, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today in Parliament, where the Congress accused the government of "political espionage" targeting Rahul Gandhi, Mrs Gandhi's 44-year-old son and No 2 in the party.
Earlier this month, Delhi Police officials visited Mr Gandhi's residence and asked his staff to reveal, among other bits of information, his shoe size and the contact information of his associates. The Congress says that Mr Gandhi, ranked among those who are most vulnerable to security threats, is protected by the Special Protection Group or SPG, and the Delhi Police has no role to play in determining the details of his cover.
However, the government said that the questionnaire presented at his home is routine and one that has been completed in the past by his mother and former premiers, as also Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Through the considerable political commotion, Mr Gandhi remains missing - he has skipped this session of Parliament, somewhat embarrassingly for his party, which has said he is on a "sabbatical" to "contemplate and introspect" the future.