Thrissur: Mayor MK Varghese finds himself in the thick of a controversy following his remark that BJP candidate Suresh Gopi is ‘fit to become MP’. Finding himself on the wrong foot, Varghese, who had become mayor with the support of CPM, later denied that he had made any such statements. 

Nobody thought that a routine visit by a candidate contesting the election to seek a vote would turn into a controversy like this, putting eggs on the face of the mayor. It was on Friday that, actor Suresh Gopi, contesting as NDA candidate from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, had visited mayor MK Varghese in his office in the morning. 

When the reporters asked about how good is Suresh Gopi, Varghese had said that ‘he is fit ’. When the reporters repeated the question rephrasing it if he was fit to become MP, Varghese had said ‘Why doesn’t he?’. 

‘He fights the election as he is fit to become an MP. Not everyone could do that. It requires a lot of qualities. Suresh Gopi has a lot of qualities. He is a smart guy’, he had said. He also said that he has the freedom to think and act independently and Suresh Gopi had given Rs1 crore for the development of Thrissur. 

Varghese had won the local body election as an independent candidate. He had become the mayor with the support of LDF. As his comments about Suresh Gopi turned controversial he convened a press conference in the evening on Friday and denied what he had said. 

UDF candidate K Muraleedharan has come out strongly against the meeting of Suresh Gopi and mayor MK Varghese saying that the undercurrents between CPM and BJP have become evident with the statement of mayor supporting Suresh Gopi. What mayor had said was the reflection of what is in the mind of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. 'Why should Sunil Kumar remain in the contest, now?', Murali asked. 'From the statement of the mayor, it is quite clear that, what he had intended was not only the defeat of Muraleedharan but also the defeat of Sunil Kumar as well', he said.