Given big responsibility, reached here with everyone's support: Union minister Suresh Gopi

Kozhikode (Kerala), Jun 12 (PTI) Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Wednesday said he has been given a big responsibility and he got a new role as a member of Narendra Modi-led government due to the support of the people from all walks of life.

Gopi, who returned to Kerala for the first time after becoming MoS for Tourism and Petroleum, visited the Thali Mahadeva temple in Kozhikode city this morning to pray.

Later speaking to reporters, the actor -turned politician said he has a lot of connections with people and temples, and he has taken all that into account.

"People from all walks of life supported me. I cannot cut all that away. I have taken up a responsibility. I have reached here with everyone's support," he said.

Gopi said that it will be the people who will keep him close.

As MoS Tourism of India, Gopi said he has a huge responsibility, and his duties would include identifying the prime spots in the country for tourist activities.

For now, the PM has spoken to him only about Kerala, he added.

Gopi also refused to respond to any political issues, including Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's "ignorant" remark about a priest and Congress MP M K Raghavan's demand for an AIIMS in Kozhikode, saying that he was not going to be part of any such discussions.

Regarding the CM's ignorant remark, he said that it was "his (Vijayan's) tongue, his thinking." "I am not going to question that. They (CM and the priest) are from the same party. They will settle it," he said.

On Raghavan's AIIMS demand, Gopi said that the Congress MP has every right to make it.

"I too have some rights. I have conveyed my rights and desires," he said.

Gopi won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat for the BJP, making history for the saffron party in Kerala.

Thrissur had witnessed a three-way contest for the Lok Sabha polls, with major candidates from the Congress, BJP, and CPI locked in a neck-and-neck battle.

Gopi had taken on the UDF candidate, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan, and Left leader and former Kerala minister, CPI's Sunil Kumar, in Thrissur this time, and won from the constituency. PTI