CHENNAI: State Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KA Sengottaiyan on Monday (May 25) strongly defended Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay against criticism over his limited interaction with the media, asserting that the Chief Minister was focused on governance and public welfare rather than issuing daily statements like others.
Talking to reporters at the airport here, the veteran minister said the government had acted swiftly in the Coimbatore minor girl sexual assault and murder case, with immediate arrests and intensive follow-up investigation already under way.
He said the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay had personally directed the DGP to visit the spot and oversee the investigation. “Not only was prompt action initiated immediately after the incident, but further legal proceedings are also being pursued with seriousness,” Sengottaiyan said.
Responding to criticism that the Chief Minister was not meeting journalists frequently, the minister said Vijay had adopted a different style of governance.
“The Chief Minister does not believe in issuing daily statements or engaging in routine political commentary. Whenever people need something, he directly announces schemes and decisions to them. He will certainly meet the media at the appropriate time,” he said.
Sengottaiyan also said the present government was not a temporary five-year arrangement and declared that Vijay would remain the permanent Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
The minister also sought time for the new government to address entrenched administrative and civic issues, including complaints over power cuts and irregularities in TASMAC outlets.
“Ministers have assumed office only recently. It is unrealistic to expect decades-old issues to disappear overnight,” he said, adding that departments had already begun acting on the Chief Minister’s directions.
He described repeated questions over long-pending structural problems within days of the government assuming office as premature and unfair.