Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress-led UDF opposition on Wednesday announced in the Assembly that they will boycott House proceedings until the Kerala Devaswom Minister resigns over alleged irregularities related to the reduced weight of gold-plated coverings on the ‘Dwarapalaka’ idols at Sabarimala temple.

For the third consecutive day, opposition members staged a protest in the well of the House, displaying placards and banners and raising slogans during question hour.

As the session began, Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan alleged that the Dwarapalaka idols from the Lord Ayyappa temple had been removed and sold outside. “So, our decision is not to co-operate with the House proceedings until Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan resigns and members of the Travancore Devaswom Board are ousted,” he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister MB Rajesh questioned the opposition’s stance, asking why they were not showing “courage” to give a notice for discussion on the issue. After that the opposition left the House in protest.

The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged irregularities concerning the reduced weight of gold-clad copper plates on the guardian deity idols at Sabarimala. The weight discrepancy came to light during court proceedings relating to the plates being sent for re-gilding this year without informing the High Court.

It was revealed that when the claddings were last removed from the Lord Ayyappa shrine for gold-plating in 2019, their weight had reduced by approximately 4.5 kg, a fact that had not been reported by Devaswom officials.

Last week, the court had also ordered a comprehensive inventory of all valuables, including gold, at the Sabarimala temple under the supervision of retired Justice KT Sankaran.

PTI inputs