Union Minister Suresh Gopi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: Union minister of state for tourism Suresh Gopi has been caught up in a row over refusing to accept the request from an elderly and economically weak man in his constituency Thrissur seeking assistance for reconstruction of his dilapidated house.
With the CPI(M) local leadership chipping in and assuring to construct a house for the elderly man, the union minister came out with a clarification on Monday that he did not accept the request as it was for the state government to provide housing.
He also added that though some people were trying to use it for their political interests, he was happy that owing to him another party came forward to provide housing.
It was during a public interaction on development at Pullu on the suburbs of Thrissur last week that an elderly man of the locality named Kochuvelayudhan tried to give a written request to the minister seeking assistance for restoring his dilapidated house that collapsed after a tree fell over it. The union minister refused to accept it, telling him that it was for the local panchayat to do.
After a video of the incident went viral, CPI(M) local leadership called on the elderly man and assured him that they would construct a house.
Kochuvelayudhan told the media that he was upset over the union minister's neglect towards his plight. He also said that another elderly man who wanted to give a similar request to the minister had withdrawn on seeing the minister's attitude.
Gopi, who is BJP's maiden Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, clarified in a social media post that he never used to give promises that he could not do. "I know what all I could do as a public worker. I believe in real solutions and not political gimmicks," said Gopi.