Thrissur: Newly inducted Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Tourism Suresh Gopi visited late Congress leader K Karunakaran's memorial Murali Mandiram in Thrissur on Saturday. Owned by the Karunakaran family, Murali Mandiram is located at Punkunnam in the heart of Thrissur city.

BJP leader and Kurunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal was present with the minister when he paid respects to the Congress stalwart. "I'm here to pay respects to my guru. Just as Sarada teacher (EK Nayanar's wife) is my mother, Kalyanikutty Amma (Karunakaran's wife) is also a mother of mine," Suresh Gopi said.

The move assumes significance as Suresh Gopi defeated Karunakaran's son and Congress leader K Muraleedharan to become the first BJP candidate to win a Lok Sabha seat from Kerala. Suresh Gopi cemented his historic victory with a massive lead of over 74,686 votes in the Thrissur Lok Sabha segment. He defeated CPI leader V S Sunilkumar in an exciting fight. While Gopi garnered a total of 4,12,338 votes, Sunilkumar had to make do with 3,37,652 votes. Congress's K Muraleedharan settled in the third position with 3,28,124 votes.

Suresh Gopi had visited the family members of CPM veteran and former Kerala Chief Minister, the late E K Nayanar. he visited Nayanar's home in Kalliasseri, where he was welcomed by the late veteran's wife, Sarada and other family members.