Reporter's diary: The day when CM’s PR team earned its keep

CHENNAI: Being members of the Chief Minister’s PR team is not easy on any given day. But Tuesday was no ordinary day, and it was definitely the day when it looked like the entire team was on its toes and fingers.

So, what was special about Tuesday apart from the regular review meeting? Well, there was nothing regular about it! The CM sat for four hours and reviewed schemes of every department.

While he usually presents the inaugural address and hands over the meeting to Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, CM Stalin had a different agenda on Tuesday. Unlike in other meetings, he came down heavily on some department secretaries and expressed his displeasure more than once.

For instance, Stalin was not happy at the news of 80,000 palm seeds being wasted by officials. With some harsh words, he asked the officials not to be careless in their approach.

The PR team, which usually releases CM’s speech to the media verbatim, was involved in the process of vetting Stalin’s speech, and tone it down. While the press communique usually takes just a few minutes to be released, on Tuesday, it took over 150 minutes for the PR team to release it, as it required multiple deletions, insertions and changes.