Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 12 -- Union home minister Amit Shah demanded on Sunday that Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan hand over the probe into the Sabarimala gold theft case to a neutral investigation agency, signalling that the state police could not conduct an impartial inquiry. Shah was addressing BJP workers and newly elected local body representatives in Thiruvananthapuram, as he kickstarted the party's campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. He also highlighted the NDA government's performance in the Lok Sabha elections and said that the party, from the 2024 election's 20% vote share, will jump to 40% in 2026. "Our support in Kerala has steadily increased. In 2014, we had 11% vote-share, which rose to 16% in 2019 and 20% in 2024. There's a history in democratic politics across the country that any party that crosses the 20% threshold doesn't take five years to reach 40%; it jumps from 20 to 40. We will achieve it in 2026 itself," he said. Stating that he examined the FIR in the Sabarimala gold theft case, Shah said its drafting protected the accused. "Can they (the LDF) protect our faith when they have proved to be incapable of protecting the assets of Sabarimala? Only the BJP can protect the faith of believers in Kerala. I want to tell the chief minister that the people of India, not just of Kerala, view with concern the developments of the loss of gold at Sabarimala. Two ministers of Kerala are in the realm of suspicion. How can they justify it? How can you conduct an impartial investigation? Even the UDF cannot do it because their leaders are involved too," the senior BJP leader said. "I demand that the CM hand over the probe to a neutral investigation agency. The BJP will conduct protests and door-to-door awareness campaigns for it," he added. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala police probes the two gold theft cases at Sabarimala, on orders of the high court. The cases involve misappropriation of gold from the sheets covering the 'Dwarapalaka' (guardian) idols and the door frames of the 'sreekovil' (sanctum sanctorum) in 2019, under the guise of renovation and re-plating. Authorities have arrested at least 12 people so far, including top officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), two CPI(M) leaders and the chief priest of the Sabarimala temple. Shah declared in his address that 'protection of faith', alongside 'vikasit Kerala' and 'surakshit Kerala', would form the three main planks of the party's poll campaign in the southern state. The visit marked his first trip to Kerala since the local body polls, in which the BJP seized power for the first time in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. Shah said the road to victory in Kerala would prove challenging, but cited similar hurdles overcome by the party in Assam, Tripura and Manipur before it formed governments there. "We have done it across the country. In 1984, the BJP only had two Lok Sabha MPs. In 2024, Modi became PM for the third consecutive time. We once had only 2 seats in Assam. Today we have formed a government in Assam two times. In Manipur, we didn't have a single seat, but we formed governments twice. In Tripura, we didn't have a single MLA and yet we eventually formed governments twice. And in UP, out of 400, we only had 25 seats. But we formed two successive governments. Now, it's Kerala's turn; we will have a BJP CM here too," he added. Shah alleged that the LDF and UDF had stagnated Kerala's possibilities. Both fronts indulged in corruption and failed to act against each other upon assuming power, he charged. "The development and progress of Kerala can only be achieved by PM Modi and the BJP," he said. Shah arrived in the state capital on Saturday night, offered prayers at the Padmanabhaswamy Temple and held election-related discussions with top BJP and NDA leaders at the state party headquarters before flying back to Delhi....