Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 24 (AHN) Demanding accountability in the alleged Sabarimala gold scam, Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday said that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should “apologise before Lord Ayyappa” for the manner in which the issue was handled.

The remark came during the party’s “Ayyappa Jyothi” protest staged outside Cliff House, the Chief Minister’s official residence, where BJP workers lit lamps and raised slogans accusing the government of shielding the real culprits while targeting devotees and temple authorities.

Chandrasekhar alleged that the arrest of the Sabarimala Tantri was politically motivated and carried out without evidence.

He claimed that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had acted to protect the Devaswom Minister and others in the government from scrutiny in the gold theft case.

Chandrasekhar said the court had clearly observed that there was no evidence against the Tantri, yet he was arrested in haste.

The move, he contended, was aimed at diverting attention from the larger questions surrounding the alleged gold scam.

The BJP put forward three key demands which includes, a CBI inquiry into the Sabarimala gold case, withdrawal of the affidavit filed by the State government in the Supreme Court and scrapping of what the party described as “false cases” registered against devotees.

The party also alleged that certain intermediaries were acting on behalf of both the CPI(M) and the Congress in the matter, deepening what it termed as a “politically compromised” investigation.

In a related development, the Supreme Court asked if there was any gold remaining in the temple.

The apex court asked this query while considering the bail plea of one of the accused, Pankaj Bhandari and posted it for further hearing on March 9.

In all, 13 people were arrested, of whom six have secured bail, and the remaining also have moved petitions for bail.

With the Sabarimala issue once again acquiring political overtones, the protest signals an intensification of the BJP’s campaign against the Left government, positioning the temple controversy at the centre of the State’s political discourse.