Chandy imposes curbs on meeting media

The television journalists will no longer need to wait for hours to get a byte of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on the sidelines of his official functions.

For Chandy, one of the most accessible Chief Ministers, has self-imposed a restriction that he would not speak to the media on the sidelines of any function and made it clear that there was no use in ‘’chasing’’ him anymore.

The irony is that he declared his decision not in any official briefing but when the television journalists caught him on the sidelines of a function here on Monday.

“There is no point in stopping me when I am coming and going after functions. There are widespread complaints from print media that I am talking to television journalists and not informing the same to them. From now on, other than Cabinet briefing, if there is any thing to communicate to the media, I would call special press meet. I wont be taking any questions from the media anymore on the sidelines of any function,’’ Chandy said.

There were media reports during the height of the nurses’ strike at Kothamangalam that the Chief Minister refused to answer queries on the issue from the media even after journalists, particularly of the visual media, had repeatedly asked him on the sidelines of several functions he attended.