Thiruvananthapuram, October 16 (IANS). Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday accused the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) of being “turned into an establishment of middlemen” and demanded immediate dissolution of the TDB, state Devaswom Minister V.N. Demanded Vasavan’s resignation and a probe into the Sabarimala temple gold scam case by the Central Investigation Agency.
He made these remarks during a massive protest by the BJP women’s wing gathered in front of the state secretariat.
Chandrashekhar said, “Theft of 4.5 kg gold from Sabarimala is not a small mistake but a major case of corruption and plunder under the watch of the Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. We will request the Central government to hand over the investigation of this case to the Central Bureau of Investigation or the Enforcement Directorate.”
State BJP general secretary Shobha Surendran said the BJP Mahila Morcha will fight continuously against the “Sabarimala loot” by the state government.
“When Congress leaders were debating on television the violation of customs at the Sabarimala temple, BJP workers were on the streets to protect the traditions of the temple,” Surendran said.
State BJP Mahila Morcha President Navya Haridas said that the current protest is a part of the struggle carried out years ago to protect the customs and traditions of the temple.
Several women, who had been booked in police cases for praying during earlier protests, were also present.
Haridas mocked the state government’s “Ayyappa Sangamam”, calling it “a hollow gathering” and alleged massive misuse of funds collected in the name of Sabarimala.
While the BJP women’s wing was protesting against Unnikrishna Potti, the main accused in two FIRs lodged by the Special Investigation Team of Kerala Police, a team of police officials detained Potti from his residence in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
After this, his lawyer Sasthamangalam Ajith said that there is no information about his client Potti, because no one knows where he is.
Ajit further said, “I had informed SIT chief Ravada A. Chandrashekhar that if he needed to interrogate his client Unnikrishna Potti, he would appear before him. The SIT chief replied that he would let me know. But now no one knows where Potti is. We are waiting for him to be produced in the court.”
–IANS
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