Alappuzha (Kerala) | Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Tuesday said that if the Centre is not setting up an AIIMS in this coastal Kerala district, then as an MP from Thrissur, he has the right to seek where it should be established.
The Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism also said that his remarks about the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were only a reiteration of his past stand regarding the medical institute coming to Kerala and not aimed at opposing anyone.
"I have not said AIIMS should go to Thrissur as I won from there. I did not make any such promise..," he said at a public gathering here.
The Thrissur MP said that the state government cannot say that the AIIMS should be set up in the land it has designated.
"It has to be established in a manner that would benefit the whole state and to help develop the area where it is set up," he said.
Gopi also rejected the statement attributed to him that if AIIMS does not come to Alappuzha, it should go to Tamil Nadu.
He contended that he said about the Central Forensic Science Research Laboratory and Training Institute proposed to be set up in Thrissur.
Gopi claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had offered to establish the institute in Thrissur, but the state government said that land was not available there and it can be set up anywhere else in Kerala.
"So, I said that if they (state government) were so adamant about it, then the institute should go to M K Stalin. But it was deliberately misinterpreted to spread the lie that I wanted AIIMS to go to Tamil Nadu, if not set up in Alappuzha," he said.
His recent remarks suggesting that AIIMS should be set up in Alappuzha was termed as his personal view by the BJP, while the ruling CPI(M) contended that he was creating unnecessary controversy on the issue.
