The management of Sivagiri Mutt has reportedly decided to not invite any SNDP leaders or BJP leaders to their annual pilgrimage which will take place later this month. The moves comes after the SNDP did not invite Congress leaders including Chief Minister to the unveiling ceremony of the statue of former Chief Minister and KPCC Chairman R Shankar which is scheduled for December 15 and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The only BJP leader attending the function will be Union Minister Mahesh Sharma. Reports state that neither SNDP leader Vellapaly Natesan nor Kerala state BJP leaders have been invited to the function. However, all state and central leaders of the Congress and CPI(M) including non-Hindu leaders have been invited to the event.
The Indian Express reported that the Sivagiri mutt leadership also downplayed the issue of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the mutt onDecember 15. Party sources told the newspaper that they had tried to get Modi to attend the pilgrimage. "However, as the PM will not be available for the function, we decided to club his next week’s Kerala visit with a visit to the mutt, where he will spend half an hour," a source said told IE.
As per the report, the Mutt leadership criticized the BJP state leadership for not helping them to invite union ministers and central leaders to the event. "As we did not hear from the BJP till the end of November, the mutt decided to go ahead with the leaders who had confirmed their participation. Mahesh Sharma was invited directly," the mutt general secretary Swami Rithambarananda told IE.