Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7 Expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil said on Saturday that Kerala voters are prepared to remove Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the upcoming Assembly elections, as they did with the ruling Left in the December 2023 local body polls.
Mamkootathil alleged that renewed attention on the Sabarimala gold heist case and the questioning of Congress leaders by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was a politically motivated effort by what he called an “anti-people government” to restore its declining public image.
He linked the investigation’s timing to the upcoming Assembly elections.
“This is not the real issue. There is a last-ditch attempt to recover lost credibility, even by invoking the theft of the gold belonging to Ayyappa at Sabarimala,” Mamkootathil said.
He further accused the government and a section of the media of working overtime to divert attention from governance failures.
He also referred to reports that the SIT questioned senior Congress MP Adoor Prakash, who asked for clarification on the specific offence under investigation.
He criticised the investigation for focusing on personal associations rather than criminal accountability, questioning whether the SIT was investigating who had taken photographs with the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, or who knew him before he was charged.
He also alluded to Cliff House, the official residence of Vijayan, suggesting selective scrutiny and implying that those in power remain unaffected.
Mamkootathil noted that the alleged Sabarimala gold theft occurred in 2019 and questioned how an Opposition MP, who has not held government office since then, could be connected to a crime committed during the current ruling party’s tenure, either to shield the real culprits or to manufacture a political narrative.
Elected as an MLA in the November 2024 by-election, Mamkootathil has recently emerged as a prominent critic of Chief Minister Vijayan.
His remarks follow his recent release on bail after spending several weeks in jail in connection with one of three similar rape cases filed against him.
While he secured anticipatory bail in two cases, he was arrested in the third before he could seek legal protection, claiming that the cases are politically motivated.
Mamkootathil also said that voters would recognise the political motives behind the investigation and respond decisively in the next elections.
--IANS
sg/dan
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