Sabarimala Chief Priest's Aides Won't Meet Kerala Chief Minister

Had things worked as planned, representatives of the Tantri family and the Pandalam palace would have met the Chief Minister in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. But that is not to be, as the Tantri family and the palace have decided not to travel to the State capital for the meeting till the government decides in favour of filing a review petition on the Supreme Court verdict.

The representatives of Sabarimala temple's 'tantri' (chief priest) will not attend a conciliation meeting called by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to discuss the September 28 Supreme Court verdict that threw open the temple to all women, it was announced today.

"Let us hear the final decision of the state government with regards to the filing of a review petition against the top court's verdict. Once that is known, then we will decide on what needs to be done. To deploy female police personnel in the temple premises is a violation of the temple practices," Sabarimala priest Kantararu Mohanaru told the media.

The meeting is scheduled to be held tomorrow.

Following the verdict, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had categorically said that no review petition would be filed and the state government will do all the things needed to implement it.