Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the 85th Sivagiri pilgrimage session on Saturday. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the pilgrimage rally via videoconference. This session will also see SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan in attendance as the chief guest.
On Saturday, prominent leaders including Sri Lankan Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, union minister of state for home affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, MPs N.K. Premachandran and K.C. Venugopal will share the dias with Chief Minister.
Mr Modi will address the gathering on the second day. It will also see union minister of state for Ayush Shripad Yesso Naik and union minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attending the programme. However, the invitation extended to Mr Natesan has not gone down well with a section Sivagiri Mutt office bearers.
"Vellapally is trying for grab 30 acres of land of the Varkala SN College which belongs to the Sivagiri Mutt. “This land was given to Vellapally on lease several decades ago. That agreement was legally challenged by Sreenarayana Dharma Sangham general secretary Swami Rithambarananda. The Attingal trial court had then ruled in favour of the Mutt," said a Mutt office bearer.
Though the court had given Mr Natesan a year's time to implement its ruling, nothing has happened even after two years, said the Mutt official. "Vellapally was denied to appeal in the case. For this pilgrimage season, Vellapally has given Rs 10 lakh to provide free food to the pilgrims. We hope that the current SNDST president and his team of swamis will not fall into Vellapally's trap," added the Mutt office bearer.
