#THREAD

#MaduraiMadness

There seems to be some kind of #Corona competition going on in #Madurai between 2 ministers. At a time when PM, Union Ministers & State CMs are avoiding public appearances, looks like these TN Ministers can’t live without facing cameras 1/6

#Madurai reporters are already fed up & now scared to cover the events organised by these ministers where social distancing norms are blatantly flouted. Look at this report by @NairShilpa1308 to see how "well" these events are organised https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏽" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium skin tone)">2/6

According to sources in #Madurai, there is a competition between Ministers Sellur Raju & RB Udaykumar to organise events & get media coverage. If RBU has an event in the morning then SR will hold one event in the evening or the next morning. 3/6

Both #Madurai collector PRO & #Madurai Corporation PRO make sure that those reporters who attend #RBU& #39;s event also compulsorily covers SR& #39;s events. They make sure ther is wide publicity in both print & TV. Otherwise they are answerable.

These are few more screenshots of invites from PRO& #39;s to cover the events on a daily basis. Since Ministers are inaugurating the events, the officials are also forced to leave everything else & participate in the photo op. 5/6

After @TimesNow news report went viral, TN Minister RB Udaykumar has issued a statement urging journalists to follow social distancing norms & meanwhile another msg pops up on the WA group asking journalists to cover TN Minister Sellur Raju& #39;s event at 8 am tomorrow.

What is the need for so many events on a daily basis? And even if they want to do these events, why can& #39;t they have proper arrangements or do it through VC?

Btw RBU handles disaster management & wonder what is he doing in #Madurai when he should be HQ during a pandemic.