Kozhikode: Actor-politician Suresh Gopi, who returned to Kerala on Wednesday for the first time after becoming Minister of State for Tourism and Petroleum, said he has been given a big responsibility and that his win was due to the support of people from all walks of life.

Gopi visited the Thali Mahadeva temple in Kozhikode city this morning to pray. Later, speaking to reporters, he said he has a lot of connections with people and temples, and 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 huge 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 for Tourism, he said his duties would include identifying the prime spots in the country for tourist activities. For now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to him only about Kerala, he added.

Gopi refused to respond to political posers, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's remark about a priest and Congress MP MK 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 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.
(With PTI inputs)