File picture of BJP president Amit Shah.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee favoured a dhoti and kurta teamed with a 'Jawahar jacket' and chappals, or slippers. On a police proforma that the government says is routinely filled by prominent politicians for security reasons, BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are listed as Mr Vajpayee's close associates.
This proforma with Mr Vajpayee's details was updated in August 2009. It has been accessed by NDTV along with several other such forms filled over the years.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi wore glasses for reading, says a form filled on her behalf in 1998. It also says that she speaks English, Hindi and Italian. The government says Mrs Gandhi was also profiled in 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
BJP chief Amit Shah's proforma, from this year, states that he has a moustache and beard and that he wears
kurta pyjamas.
Mr Advani's profile from 2002 says he wore
kurta pyjamas and listed as close associates Mr Vajpayee and Sushma Swaraj, who is now External Affairs Minister. Ms Swaraj was profiled in 1989 as favouring a
saree and
bindi and that she sported a simple hairstyle.
The Congress today said neither Sonia Gandhi nor her son Rahul Gandhi had ever filled out any form for any security audit - contradicting the government's claim to explain the Delhi Police visit to Mr Gandhi's home.
"Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi have never filled out these forms, so they (the government) gave a wrong statement, news agency ANI quoted party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi as saying.
The Congress is up in arms that a team of the Delhi Police visited the residence of its Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who is away on a sabbatical, and asked questions like what colour his hair and eyes are and who he is closely associated with.
"Why does the police need to know his shoe size?... Is this the sort of spying that this government plans against political opponents?" asked Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Rajya Sabha. Mr Azad claimed that he had in his "35 years in politics" not filled one of these forms.
Some other opposition leaders like KC Tyagi of the Janata Dal (United) too claimed that they had never filled a proforma.
Senior minister Arun Jaitley said, "
The Congress is making a mountain out of not even a molehill." The government says that in 1987, it was the Congress government, headed by Rahul's father, Rajiv Gandhi, that initiated the profiling process through a proforma.