BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar presiding over the party’s central committee meeting in Hiruvananthapuram on Saturday. | Photo credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will organize protests and awareness campaigns to press its demand for a probe into the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple gold theft case by the Central Bureau of Investigation, party general secretary MT Ramesh said.
Addressing a press conference detailing the decision of the BJP core committee meeting here on Saturday, Mr. Ramesh said ‘Sabarimala Samrakshana Deepam’ would be lit in all homes and important centers in the state on Makaravilakku day on January 14 to raise demand for a probe to book all those involved in the theft.
All sections of people who are interested in preserving the sanctity of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple will come together in this massive protest, Mr. Ramesh said.
He reiterated that the BJP was of the view that leaders of both the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front were involved in the theft.
The Enforcement Directorate, he said, was investigating the financial aspect of the theft, but equally important was the corruption angle and the role of “international gold thieves” in the case. A CBI inquiry was required but the Chief Minister ruled it out. “Why is the state government afraid of a CBI probe?” he asked.
The truth should come out, Mr. Ramesh said, hinting at other programs as part of the protest.
Mr. Ramesh said the core committee meeting concluded that the BJP had succeeded in making huge progress in the local body elections. The meeting also discussed the joint “attempts” of the LDF and the UDF to keep the BJP at bay in both the local body elections and the panchayat president elections that followed.
“The Congress and the CPI(M) are trying to form a front against the BJP. The latest example of this is the Sabarimala gold theft case,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh said Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Thiruvananthapuram on January 11. He will address a meeting of the BJP state leadership and a meeting of representatives of the party who emerged victorious in the local polls. Preparations for the upcoming council elections will also be discussed at the meeting.
The preliminary discussion about the elections to the council took place at the Saturday meeting of the central committee. Detailed discussions will be held in the presence of Mr. Shah, Mr. Ramesh said.
Published – 03 Jan 2026 20:26 IST
