THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Coming down heavily on the LDF government for continuing to pursue cases with non-bailable charges against BJP leaders in connection with the 2019 Sabarimala agitation, former Goa governor and ex-BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said he would take up the legal fight on their behalf.
Pillai was speaking at a function to release his new book ‘Sabarimala Samaravum Suvarna Avasara Vidhiyum’ at the Thiruvananthapruam Press Club here on Saturday. “Cases are still being pursued against 97-year-old O Rajagopal and many other senior BJP leaders for a 2019 hartal that was not organised by the party,” he said.
The former governor said summons has also been issued to him to appear before the court on February 27. “These cases can easily be quashed as they are based on absurd grounds,” Pillai, who had earlier announced his plans to resume legal practice in the state, said.
Pillai said it was not the BJP but the Sabarimala Samrakshana Samithi that called a hartal on January 3, 2019 on the basis of which cases were registered against the party’s senior leaders. Pillai said he had advised the Sabarimala tantri that there would be no contempt of court action against him if he closes the Sabarimala ‘sannidhanam’ when women were set to enter the temple with police protection.