T’puram: Ratcheting up its protest over Sabarimala gold heist, BJP state unit lit Ayyappa Jyothi (lamps) near Cliff House, the official residence of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Tuesday. Inaugurating the protest, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said BJP would not let CM and CPM belittle the issue as a lapse by certain persons.Chandrasekhar said both CPM and Congress were equally responsible for the theft of temple gold over a period of time. He alleged that Congress did not protest when SIT arrested Sabarimala tanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru, who, according to Chandrasekhar, was arrested to resist the pressure to arrest former devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran. BJP state chief said Congress should stop attempts to take political leverage over the gold heist, adding that BJP would focus on exposing the double standards of Congress over the Sabarimala issue in the next 30 days. “Six months have passed since the news of the gold heist surfaced. SIT was not yet able to find out who did that. It was to distract public attention that SIT arrested the tanthri. What else was the reason? BJP will not let the CM fool the public,” Chandrasekhar said. He wanted the govt to file a new affidavit before Supreme Court, upholding the tradition and customs in Sabarimala. Govt should hand over the case to CBI and withdraw all cases registered against persons who protested when tradition and customs were violated in the hill shrine in 2018. Former Union minister V Muraleedharan said SIT, which recorded the statements of Congress MP Adoor Prakash and Surendran, put Sabarimala tanthri behind bars for 40 days. CPM state secretary, who gave a clean chit to Surendran, had no qualms about branding the tanthri as a thief, he said, adding that tanthri was targeted just because he was a Hindu priest.
