Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], January 4 (ANI): Congress MP Jebi Mather on Sunday criticised the Communist Party of India (Marxist) over their allegations against senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in the Sabarimala gold theft case, stating that the move reflects the 'desperate' situation of the CPM.

Speaking with ANI, Congress MP Jebi Mather said, 'The Chief Minister is going to complete 10 years in Kerala, and instead of giving answers and being responsible, they are looping in Sonia Gandhi into the case. This shows the desperate situation CPM is in right now... People will just laugh at the Chief Minister of Kerala.'

Jebi Mather also levelled counter-allegations at the CPM regarding their involvement in the theft case.

'The Sabarimala gold theft is a classic example of how the ruling dispensation and the government in power in Kerala it is a miserable failure of the CPM led LDF government and the former MLA of CPM, former Devaswom Board President, they all are one after the other getting arrested,' she said.

'Bringing in the Congress leaders' names makes it a desperate situation for the CPM, as they have miserably lost the local body elections...But the people of Kerala understand the reality...The people have decided to give a befitting reply in the forthcoming assembly election to the LDF and the CPM as well,' she added.

Congress MP Shafi Parambil also criticised the CPM, saying the party is trying to 'skip away' from its responsibilities by levelling allegations against the Congress.

'CPM is just trying to skip away from the responsibilities...The complete responsibility lies with the Devaswom board. The responsibility lies upon the government, the cabinet, who are protecting those people who did this to Kerala, who did this to Sabarimala...All these details came out just because the court intervened,' he said.

'Otherwise, this will be a covered-up thing. Just because the court intervened, all these details came up. Despite the government knowing about this thing, despite the Devaswom board knowing about this thing, why didn't they come up with actions before the court intervened? That means they are covering up. They are hiding things,' he added.

The comments follow allegations by CPM leaders, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who questioned Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's meeting with the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, and demanded an investigation.

The Sabarimala gold controversy centres on allegations of irregularities in the gold plating at the Sabarimala temple. This situation arose from a 1998 donation of 30.3 kilograms of gold and 1,900 kilograms of copper by industrialist Vijay Mallya, intended for the cladding of the sanctum sanctorum and the wooden carvings of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala.

Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, was reportedly taken into custody by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on October 17. The SIT, which is investigating the matter, submitted its second report to the Kerala High Court, revealing serious irregularities in the minutes of the Travancore Devaswom Board. (ANI)