Rajya Sabha member and actor Suresh Gopi on Thursday morning accepted a suggestion made by Kochi Metro managing director A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish that he become the brand ambassador of the metro.

But as word spread about the development, there were disparaging comments from various quarters, which forced Mr. Hanish to come out with a clarification that it was only “an informal response to Mr. Gopi’s willingness to associate with different initiatives of the metro”.

The news made several prominent persons raise their eyebrows.

Legislator V.T. Balaram, in a Facebook post, asked if “the decision to make the Sangh Parivar MP the brand ambassador of a project that was the State’s pride was taken by officials or with the consent of the Chief Minister”.

Mr. Hanish told The Hindu later that his intent was to ensure the support of celebrities for metro’s initiatives so that they received wider acceptance.

‘Unwarranted politics’

Mr. Gopi blamed “unwarranted politics” as a possible reason for the metro agency backtracking on the offer, even issuing a clarification. “I accepted their offer and nothing else,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Gopi told mediapersons at the KMRL office after inaugurating Intelligent CPS Data Analytics Platform for a Metro Rail Transport System, a research initiative co-partnered by the KMRL, that he was invited to the Kochi metro office and he accepted the offer to promote the metro. He travelled on the metro train and planted a sapling at Aluva.