NEW DELHI: An unexpected roadside interaction between Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay and an elderly woman became one of the notable moments of his visit to Mettur in Salem district on Tuesday. During the brief encounter, Vijay gifted the woman his own pair of Christian Dior sunglasses.Vijay was in Salem to open the gates of the Mettur Dam and release water for Samba cultivation in the Cauvery Delta. News agency PTI reported that after inspecting the Mettur hydroelectric power station and opening the sluice gates of the Stanley Reservoir, he made an unscheduled stop at a roadside farm while travelling towards Salem airport.According to local accounts, Vijay noticed a group of elderly women working in the fields and stepped out of his vehicle to meet them.Chellam, an elderly resident of the area, walked towards the chief minister and held his hand.“He asked me if I had eaten,” Chellam recalled. “I told him I hadn’t, because I was waiting to see him first.”During the interaction, Vijay asked her name and enquired about her well-being before walking with her around the garden and the nearby cattle shed belonging to local farmer Palanisamy.Chellam said the chief minister then offered her the sunglasses he was carrying. She later appeared in the oversized frames, walking beside Vijay with her hand on his arm and waving to people gathered along the route as he led her through the crowd.“I was surprised when he came and stood next to me. I told him how happy I was to see him, and he gifted me these sunglasses,” she told PTI.
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According to Chellam, Vijay’s gesture reminded her of his days in cinema.“He looked just like he does in his movies,” she said. “I was so happy I told him I would defend him if anyone ever tried to harm him.”The chief minister spent around 15 minutes at the farm, during which he distributed dhotis and sarees to the host family and discussed local agricultural issues, including the government’s decision to increase the milk procurement price to Rs 44.Chellam later said Vijay also urged her to have food. “He told me he had already eaten and insisted that I go and eat,” she said.Videos of the interaction were subsequently shared widely on social media. The visit also comes as the state government focuses on water release for Samba cultivation, with the Mettur Dam playing a key role in irrigation across the Cauvery Delta during the cropping season.
