L-G, CM join hands to celebrate Kamban

Within hours of lambasting each other, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy appeared to have reached a rapprochement of sorts, going by their camaraderie at a public function here on Friday.

Mr. Narayanasamy appeared to bury the hatchet quite deep when he took over the role of Tamil translator to Ms. Bedi’s address in English at the Kamban Vizha.

Before commencing her address at the inauguration of the three-day Kamban festival, Ms. Bedi wanted to ascertain how many people would be able to understand her speech as it would be in English. Education Minister R. Kamalakannan initially volunteered to translate her address into Tamil. However, the Lt. Governor said that “My Chief Minister should translate into Tamil what I say in English.” She pointed out that Mr. Narayanasamy is “versatile not only in Tamil but also in English, Hindi and French.”

Ms. Bedi said that she liked Mr. Narayanasamy speaking in sweet Hindi and exchanged pleasantries before commencing her speech. She, however, made it clear that Mr. Narayanasamy should convey “only what I say.”

To this Mr. Narayanasamy replied that he could not give any guarantee in this regard.

Ms. Bedi pointed out that she wanted to have a temporary friendship with him for the next 10 minutes. The Chief Minister, however, said that he wanted to have a permanent friendship.

The Lt. Governor recalled how her mother and other members in her family had been regularly reading the Ramayana. She suggested that Kamban Kazhagam should present cash award to those proficiently reciting the epic.

Ms. Bedi also announced that an award of ₹ 1 lakh would be instituted by both Raj Nivas and the office of the Chief Minister by equally sharing the contribution. The Chief Minister immediately accepted her suggestion and said that the prize would come into effect immediately.

The Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister have been at loggerheads on several issues. But the Kamban Vizha brought about a virtual rapprochement between them much to the surprise of the Ministers and the functionaries of the festival.