THRISSUR: Union Minister Suresh Gopi finally responded to the media for the first time on the irregularities in the voters list. His response was when he came to garland the statue of Shaktan Thampuran in Thrissur Sunday morning. Suresh Gopi said the Election Commission should answer to the controversies raised against him. He added that if the Election Commission fails to reply, then when the matter reaches the Supreme Court, go and ask there.

Suresh Gopi also spoke about the purpose of garlanding the statue of Shaktan on the first day of Chingam. He garlanded the statue of Shaktan with the one he bought from Bengaluru last year. He did what his mind told him. 'Shaktan was the most powerful leader of Thrissur. Thrissur should get that power and this was done for that. The Election Commission will answer to all the controversies today. I don’t need to answer. I am a minister. I am fulfilling my responsibility in the best possible way. If they do not reply, then when the matter reaches the Supreme Court you just have to go and ask there. A few monkeys are roaming around with a lot of allegations? Tell them to go there and ask,' said Suresh Gopi.

When Suresh Gopi visited the Guruvayur temple this morning, he said that this year's Onam celebrations will start with Shaktan. Meantime, the BJP has decided to convene a core committee meet to stop haunting Suresh Gopi. The meeting also assessed that it is an attempt to divert attention from public issues. BJP state general secretary Advocate S Suresh said that the Congress and the communist parties are trying to portray the people of Thrissur as fools.