‘Income has stopped’: Why union minister Suresh Gopi wants to quit politics, return to films

Suresh Gopi proposed the name of Rajya Sabha MP Sadanandan Master to be appointed in his place as Union Minister.

Updated on: Oct 13, 2025, 11:48:23 IST

By HT News Desk

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Citing financial crunch, Union Minister Suresh Gopi has expressed his desire to step away from politics and return to his acting career. The actor-turned politician was speaking at an event in Kerala's Kannur when he said that his income had significantly tanked since he took up the ministerial role, news agency ANI reported.

File photo of Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi. (PTI)

"I really want to continue acting. I need to earn more; my income has now stopped completely," he said.

Gopi proposed the name of Rajya Sabha MP Sadanandan Master to be appointed in his place as Union Minister adding that he is the youngest member in his party.

"I have never prayed for becoming a minister. A day before the elections, I told reporters that I do not want to become a minister, I want to continue with my cinema"

"I took membership of the party in October 2008 ... it was the first MP chosen by people and the party felt they needed to make me the minister," said the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of Tourism.

Gopi is the BJP’s first-ever Lok Sabha MP from Kerala and a longtime actor in the Malayalam film industry. He made the remarks after inaugurating the MP office of Rajya Sabha MP C Sadanandan Master.

Gopi, in the past too, has said that he wants to step down from his position as MoS (Petroleum, Natural Gas, Tourism) in the Narendra Modi-led Union government, citing his inclination towards acting and prior commitments for various film projects. T

he actor-turned-politician joined the BJP in 2016 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha the same year for contribution towards arts. In 2019 and 2021, he contested the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, respectively, in Kerala, but lost both contests. In the 2024 LS polls, he emerged victorious in the Thrissur parliamentary seat, trouncing CPI’s VS Sunil Kumar by over 74,000 votes.

Earlier this year, President Droupadi Murmu nominated the BJP veteran from Kannur, Sadanandan Master, to the Rajya Sabha.

(With inputs from HT correspondent)

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