LATEST NEWS: Can’t exist without films, will be happy if I’m removed as Minister: Suresh Gopi

Kochi, Aug 21 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Actor-turned-politician and BJP’s lone Lok Sabha member from Kerala, Suresh Gopi, who is also the Union Minister of State for Tourism, dropped a bombshell on Wednesday by saying that he will be happy if he is relieved from the minister’s post because acting is his passion and he can’t live without it. “Acting is my passion and without films I cannot exist … If I am removed (as the MoS) due to that, I will be most happy,” Gopi said while addressing a meeting of a film body here on Wednesday. “Before I took over as Minister, I had said this to my leaders. I had met Amit Shah and he had asked me how many films do I have in the pipeline. I told him I have about 25 scripts and 22 films,” Gopi said, adding that he is expecting permission to resume acting. “However, one thing I can tell you… I will being acting for the film ‘Ottakomban’ on September 6,” the BJP MP said. “With this responsibility as a Minister, I am unable to be with my voters in Thrissur. If I am relieved of the ministerial post, I can act and also be with the voters in my constituency,” Gopi added. Gopi, who scripted a stunning victory from Thrissur to help BJP win its first-ever Lok Sabha seat from Kerala, was initially reluctant to take up a ministerial post since he had a few committed film projects lined up. But following pressure from the party’s national leadership, he reached Delhi hours before the swearing in and was made the Minister of State for Tourism. With over 250 films under his belt in a career which began in the mid ’80s, Gopi is known as the ‘Aangry young man of Malayalam films’. Gopi’s tryst with politics began following his closeness to four-time Congress Chief Minister K. Karunakaran. However, after Karunakaran quit active politics and Oommen Chandy earned prominence, Gopi did not enjoy the same chemistry with the latter and eventually bid goodbye to the Congress.