26 November 2016 11:57:04 IST

When a minister visits a cobbler...

The minister arrived in Coimbatore to take part in an event organised by Isha Foundation

For a cobbler to have a Union Minister as his customer is probably asking too much, even in a dream! But as luck would have it, this cobbler did get a chance to mend Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani's footwear.

The minister, wh

o arrived in Coimbatore to take part in an event organised by Isha Foundation, to her dismay realised that the strap of her footwear gave way just as she got off the flight. Irani voiced her plight to BJP Tamil Nadu General Secretary Vanathi Srinivasan, who had gone to the airport to receive her. The duo left by road, when the minister, it is learnt spotted a cobbler near Perur and decided to have her footwear stitched. She got off the vehicle and showed the broken strap of the footwear to the cobbler.

The cobbler, who initially was apprehensive, quickly got down to do the job after Srinivasan reassured him and explained the urgency. It is learnt that the minister gave him a ₹100 note, but the repair cost was a mere ₹10 and the cobbler did not have the change.

She then asked him to put two additional stitches and keep the change, which is when the TN BJP General Secretary seems to have explained to the minister about the shortage of smaller denomination currency — even of ₹10, ₹20 and ₹50 in this region.

No sooner had the minister taken a seat at the cobbler's shop, than the visit went viral on social media.