Sabarimala gold theft case: CPI(M) claims Congress backed off after Sonia Gandhi’s name surfaced

: Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] The Congress took a hasty step back on the Sabarimala gold theft scandal after photographs of Sonia Gandhi with the main suspects in the case went viral on social and traditional media, the state committee said.

CPI(M) State Secretary MV Govindan, at a press conference on Sunday, January 25, 2026, said that Rahul Gandhi condemned the Congress leadership in Kerala for dragging Mrs Gandhi’s name into scandal by wrongly trying to weaponise gold theft against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government during the local body campaign.

“The incriminating photographs showed Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case, and the person accused of receiving the stolen goods from the temple next to Mrs Gandhi at her residence in Delhi in the presence of two Congress MPs from Kerala. Undeniable evidence in public domain has put the Congress on the defensive,” he said.

Further, Mr. Govindan said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigation had revealed that the Congress-appointed Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) had opened the door for Mr. Potti to loot the temple along with the chief priest(topposite).

“The then Congress leadership in TDB, considering that termite infestation had made the gold-plated concrete flagpole in front of the temple unstable, ordered it to be dismantled and rebuilt. The Congress board also said, tantri usurping the gold-plated horse idol atop the high mast. SIT seizes stolen idol tantri“at home,” he said.

Mr. Govindan said the Congress’ attempt to use the Sabarimala gold theft as a weapon against the LDF government inside and outside Parliament had backfired for the UDF. “Congress MPs gleefully sang Ayyappa songs parodying the LDF government in front of Parliament ahead of the civic body elections, but belatedly realized that they had reached the dirty end of the stick,” he added.

Mr. Govindan said the Congress-BJP campaign was using the Sabarimala controversy to overshadow the progress made by Kerala in development, education, health and social welfare under the LDF government to gain some leverage in the local body poll campaign. “The same gambit will not apply to voters in the House elections. There is no anger against the mandate. Voters have realized that at least some of them fell for Congress’s lies,” he said.

He said that after the investigation reached the threshold of the SIT leadership, the Congress started tarnishing the integrity of the SIT. Significantly, the UDF refused to accept the Supreme Court’s discretion regarding the SIT investigation.