Tamil Nadu governor says he patted journalist's cheek 'affectionately'

Banwarilal Purohit, TN governor

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit yesterday apologised to a woman reporter whose cheek he publicly patted on Tuesday, 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 on Tuesday when he patted the journalist on her cheek "patronisingly", apparently to diplomatically avoid replying to a question asked by her.

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