Patgate: TN Guv voices regret, 'unconvinced' scribe accepts apology

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit today apologised to a woman reporter whose cheek he publicly patted yesterday, a gesture that provoked outrage by her and the journalist fraternity and protests by opposition parties.

In a letter to Lakshmi Subramanian, the 78-year-old under-fire governor said she was like her "granddaughter" and that his gesture stemmed from "affection" and "appreciation" of her performance as a journalist.

Subramanian, who works for an English news magazine, responded to the governor's letter with an e-mail where she accepted his apology "even though I am not convinced about your contention that you did it to appreciate a question I asked".

Purohit had kicked up a huge row yesterday when he patted the journalist on her cheek "patronisingly", apparently to diplomatically avoid replying to a question asked by her.

A livid Subramanian immediately took to Twitter to voice her anger, saying, "I asked TN Governor Banwarilal Purohit a question as his press conference was ending. He decided to patronisingly - and without consent - pat me on the cheek as a reply."
Subramanian also wrote an e-mail to him, saying "Here is what I have to say his excellency Governor Mr Banwarilal Purohit... so agitated... Mr Purohit. it might be an act of appreciation by you and grandfatherly attitude, but to me you are wrong."
After the patgate broke last night, the Chennai Press Club in a letter to Purohit said the governor's conduct at the press meet was "neither exemplary nor condonable."
The nearly 200 journalists wrote to the governor, demanding an "unconditional apology". Expressing "shock", they said Purohit, as the constitutional head of the state, "crossed lines of not just basic courtesy but also those of the law."