Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala Assembly on Monday witnessed dramatic scenes as members of the opposition Congress-led UDF disrupted the question hour, demanding the resignation of Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan over the gold plating row in Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple.

As the session commenced, the Leader of the Opposition, V D Satheesan, raised the controversy over charges facing the Left-controlled Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

He sought the immediate resignation of Vasavan, saying the opposition was previously denied permission to raise the issue.

When the Speaker ignored the demand and proceeded with the Question Hour, UDF members stormed the well of the House, raising slogans against the government.

They raised a banner in front of the Speaker's podium, which read "those who have stolen gold of Lord Ayyappa are ambalam vizhungikal (temple thieves)." Despite repeated requests from Shamseer to return to their seats, the protest intensified, prompting ruling members, including some ministers to rise in reponse.

Later, the speaker suspended the session and left the podium.

The opposition protest in the Assembly came in the wake of an ongoing controversy over the gold-plating of Dwarapalaka idols in Sabarimala.

Unnikrishnan Potty, a Bengaluru-based businessman, had sponsored the gold plating of the Dwarapalaka idols and taken them to Chennai in 2019.

The Kerala High Court recently ordered an investigation after a Dwarapalaka peedam (pedestal) was recovered from the house of a relative of Potty by the Devaswom vigilance wing. This followed his claim that the pedestal had gone missing from Sabarimala.

There were also allegations of a decrease in the gold at Sabarimala since 1998, when industrialist Vijay Mallya sponsored the plating of the sanctum sanctorum.

The Congress and BJP have raised serious allegations against the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) concerning this matter and are demanding a CBI probe.