India
Devaswom ministers from south Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry were invited to the meeting.
Thiruvananthapuram: Devaswom ministers from neighbouring states skipped the meeting with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan regarding the Sabarimala issue.
Devaswom ministers from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry were invited to attend a meeting regarding the Sabarimala issue in state's capital Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
However, none of the ministers arrived at the Thycaud guest house in Thiruvananthapuram. Instead, the department secretaries were sent to attend the meeting from each of the states.
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"Other state ministers have common sense, so they didn't attend the meeting with Pinarayi Vijayan," said Anand Sudhir, an Ayyappa devotee.
Meanwhile, reports say that agenda of the meeting was not women’s entry into Sabarimala, but matters concerning other states in the wake of the Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season in the temple.
In the wake of the absence of the ministers, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed that he is also not attending the meeting.
Later, Kerala Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran informed that the chief minister could not attend the meeting due to some unexpected emergency.
"Surendran was trying to save the chief minister as he always does. Anyway, happy to hear that minister of other states didn't come for the meeting," said Arjun K, a BJP worker.
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