Thiruvananthapuram: In a dramatic turn, the LDF government gave its nod to Travancore Devaswom Board ( TDB ) to pursue the possibility of obtaining permission from the Supreme Court to delay the implementation of the Constitution bench’s order that allowed the entry of women of all ages at Sabarimala temple.TDB authorized president A Padmakumar to consult legal experts to explore the possibility. On Friday morning, TDB will meet again to finalize the nature of the application to be filed in the Supreme Court.“In principle, the collective opinion at the board meeting is to approach the Supreme Court with a petition seeking time to implement the order. We have sought legal opinion and a final decision will be taken tomorrow,” said Padmakumar.If favourable legal opinion is obtained on Friday, TDB will file a miscellaneous application in court seeking more time to implement the order. The biggest challenge before TDB will be to present a convincing reason. The board will seek an urgent hearing too, citing the opening of Sabarimala hill shrine on Friday evening.P G Sasikumar Varma of the erstwhile Pandalam royal family and Kandararu Rajeevaru of Thazhamon family urged Vijayan to seek more time from the court in the wake of SC decision to consider review petitions in January. Though the chief minister didn’t give an immediate reply, sources said he conveyed the suggestion to the TDB president and asked him to check the possibility of such an option.The same was suggested by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai during the all-party meeting. But, Vijayan had dismissed it, clarifying that the government wouldn’t seek time to implement the order. Pillai even cited previous instances where the government waited for conclusion of review petitions before implementing SC directive.When the Supreme Court issued its verdict on September 28, TDB planned to file a review petition. The plan was abandoned as Vijayan gave strict orders to obey the court order. The temple was open to devotees twice after the order was passed and maintaining law and order at Sabarimala became a headache for the government and TDB.With the two-month pilgrim season set to begin on Friday, government wants a smooth pilgrimage for devotees. The political gain earned by BJP might have prompted CPM and CPI to seek a path of consensus. It is learnt that state secretaries of both CPM and CPI conveyed to the CM that escalating the issue would be a political loss to the front that will have to fight Lok Sabha polls next year.

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