BJP calls for dissolution of TDB, removal of Sudhakaran

BJP State president PK Krishnadas called upon Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan to take the Dewaswom portfolio away from G Sudhakaran and to dissolve the Board. The party president said that the BJP came up with this demand following the gross neglect and carelessness of the Minister and the Board in making arrangements for the current pilgrimage season in Sabarimala.

It was a ‘calculated move’ on the part of Sudhakaran and TDB, that manages over 1,000 temples including the famous Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala, to ‘sabotage’ the pilgrimage as part of a ‘hidden agenda’ of ruling the CPI(M), Krishanadas said during a press conference at the BJP State headquarters here on Saturday.

Temples remain as roadblock for CPI(M) to implement its policies in the State, Krishnadas said. The failure to provide facilities and amenities to Ayyappa pilgrims by the LDF Government has proved that the temple administration should be handed over to the believers, he added.

BJP workers would hold a march to the TDB office on January 9 to raise its demands, Krishnadas said. Krishnadas also called upon the Chief Minister and the State Home Minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, to clarify their stand on Sudhakaran’s statement that there were intelligence reports of BJP trying to sabotage the Sabarimala pilgrim season.

The BJP leader said that the people of the State would reject Sudhakaran’s statement with contempt. He also said that the Chief Minister and the Home Minister must make it clear before the people of the State as to why the Minister put such a wild allegation and it depicted that the State special branch police was equally inept as Sudhakaran.

When asked as to why the party had not adhered to the issue of the sufferings of the Sabarimala pilgrims till now, the BJP president said that the party was always in the forefront with regard to the protection of the causes of the temples.

The youth wing of the BJP, Yuva Morcha, has been in the forefront of the allegations that Sudhakaran is mentally unstable and the organisation even conducted a mock drill in front of the secretariat the other day, depicting Sudhakaran as a mentally deranged person .The student wing of the RSS, the ABVP is also in the forefront of allegations against the Travancore Dewaswom Board with accusations that all the colleges under the TDB are mired in corruption.

The organisation held the Board member P Narayanan captive for around an hour on Friday.

There are allegations that huge amounts are being changed hands in the Travancore Dewaswom Board and with the Dewaswom executive officer still not replaced, and with the Sabarimala pilgrim season peaking as the Makaravilakku festival is nearing, there are worries as to how the temple will function during the peak time with such a callous attitude on the part of the Board. Krishnadas also asked the Government to take immediate steps to overcome the shortage of milk in the State.

The State committee and party council would be held in Kochi on January 12 and 13. BJP National president Rajnath Singh would attend the State meeting, he added.

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