Thrissur: Union Minister Suresh Gopi courted a fresh controversy while attending the Culvert Friendly Debate at Irinjalakuda on Wednesday. When an elderly woman, a depositor of the scam-hit Karuvannur Co-operative Bank, approached him seeking help to recover her money, he told her to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The minister challenged the Chief Minister to return to the depositors the money seized by the Enforcement Directorate from the bank.

“Tell your Chief Minister to return your money if there is any provision to distribute the funds seized by the ED. I am saying this in public. Otherwise, you should approach your MLA,” said Suresh Gopi, mocking the woman.

In response, the woman expressed her helplessness and asked how she could personally approach the Chief Minister. Agitated, Suresh Gopi shouted: “Then climb onto my chest!”

“Your minister lives here,” he added, hinting at Higher Education Minister R Bindu.

People surrounding the Union Minister laughed at the woman when he made the remark in an insulting tone.

Unfazed, the woman stood her ground and asked him: “Sir, are you not our minister?”

To this, Suresh Gopi replied harshly: “No, I’m the nation’s minister.”

“I have already given my reply. You should meet the Chief Minister and tell him to collect the funds and distribute them,” he added.

This is the second time Suresh Gopi has drawn criticism for harsh remarks towards elderly citizens in Thrissur. At another Culvert-Friendly Debate in Pullu, he rejected an elderly man’s petition for a house and told him to approach the panchayat. While that incident sparked a row, he later admitted it was a mistake, but also accused the CPM of politicising the matter. Alleging a CPM conspiracy to derail his programmes in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, Suresh Gopi claimed that more people would be sent to his events with petitions, with the aim of making him reject them.