The need for the ordinance came since the SPG cover to Sonia and her two children was expiring on December 1 and it couldn't have been possible to get the SPG Amendment Bill passed in both Houses by then.

The ordinance, to be brought in the winter session of Parliament, stresses on the ``threat perception'' as a key criterion for continuing SPG cover to former Prime Ministers, their spouses and families, beyond the earlier stipulated 10 years.

So it's apparent, observers say, that barring the PM and Sonia Gandhi, none of the other four former PMs -- Chandra Shekhar, P V Narasimha Rao, I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda -- may be able to continue getting the SPG cover. The Government has claimed that ``making these amendmentsto the SPG Act will reduce the burden on the SPG and the Act itself will become more realistic.''