Kozhikode: BJP's Kerala state unit chief P S Sreedharan Pillai, against whom a non-bailable case was slapped for his controversial remarks on Sabarimala temple, said on Sunday that he did not fear arrest.
"I stand by what I said," Pillai told reporters.
During a speech in Kozhikode recently, Pillai said that the Sabarimala head priest had consulted him before threatening the closure of the Ayyappa shrine if women of child-bearing age were to enter it. However, on Saturday the BJP chief made a volte-face saying someone else in the tantri's family had sought his views.
"I don't remember who exactly called me - the tantri or one of his family members. I had received hundreds of phone calls that day. If the tantri says he did not call me, I respect that. If someone wants to investigate who called, let them do so," Pillai said on Sunday.
Television channels had aired a video clip last week in which Pillai purportedly is heard saying at a Yuva Morcha meeting that head priest Kandararu Rajevaru had consulted him before threatening to close the shrine in case women in the 'barred' age group of 10 to 50 entered it to offer prayers.
When the controversy broke out, Pillai had said as a lawyer practising in the Kerala High Court the priest had sought a legal clarification, which he had given.
However, the tantri had denied having consulted Pillai and said he had only spoken to his senior tantri Kandararu Mohanararu.
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the shrine, had sought an explanation from the head priest.
At the height of protests against entry of women of all age groups into the hill shrine, Rajeevaru had on October 19 threatened to shut the sanctum sanctorum if two young women, escorted by the police, were allowed to reach the Sannidhanam.
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