By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram
Malayalam film star Suresh Gopi says he is still awaiting a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join his government.
The 56-year-old actor of more than 200 films had met Modi in his office in Gandhinagar last year, ahead of the April-May general elections, and offered his support but he was reluctant to jump into the fray.
Gopi now claims that the then Gujarat chief minister, who was “pretty confident” that he would come to power in Delhi after the elections, had made a promise to nominate the actor to the Rajya Sabha and clear his way into the ministry.
“He announced the meeting with me on Twitter. Similarly, he might announce this too (induction into his cabinet) on Twitter,” the film star told reporters yesterday.
Though Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party bagged a record 10.5% of popular votes in the elections, it could not win a seat in parliament from Kerala.
Actor-turned-politician K B Ganesh Kumar, a legislator belonging to a Kerala Congress faction headed by his father R Balakrishna Pillai, has recently been warming up to the BJP after he was forced to resign from the state cabinet.
According Modi’s official website narendramodi.in, the then Gujarat chief minister had a “courtesy meeting” with Gopi that lasted almost an hour on March 5 and they discussed issues concerning Kerala and modernising the railway network.
In the meeting, Gopi also discussed the Vizhinjam Port project, demand for a bench of the Kerala High Court in the state capital and problems faced by the film industry. He also requested him to make state television Doordarshan more “effective in reflecting the cultural and artistic aspirations of the people.”
Gopi told reporters he was highly impressed by the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and he had informed Modi that he was willing to “become a slave” of the leader “if you bring development to Kerala.”
Gopi’s praise for Modi and subsequent criticism against the previous government also provoked Congress workers to take out a protest and to burn his effigy.
Gopi also attended the prime minister’s swearing-in but he could not meet him.
“I have not heard anything since from the BJP leadership, either in Delhi or here. But if the offer comes, I will not reject it,” Gopi said.
Gopi is also critical of the Congress-led state government headed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy but is all praise for opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, the Marxist veteran, and senior Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony.
Gopi shakes hands with then Gujarat chief minister Modi.
