“Absent minded” Krishna serves legal notice on PTI

New Delhi: External affairs minister SM Krishna may have displayed a rare burst of energy when on Friday he served a legal notice on the Press Trust of India (PTI) for reporting that he appeared ''absent-minded'' when asked to make a statement by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. This was with reference to the parliament session on Thursday.

PTI reported that when the Speaker called upon Krishna to make a statement on the situation in Sri Lanka, he was absent from his seat and was engaged in a conversation with some members in the aisle. The report carried on to say that union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar then drew Krishna's attention to the Speaker's order.

Krishna then failed to find a copy of the statement in his file and had to be provided a copy by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Once the agency report was flashed , a senior official of the external affairs ministry called up PTI late at night and said as Krishna had been handling questions in the Rajya Sabha he had handed over certain papers to his deputy, Preneet Kaur, papers that were meant for his statement in the Lok Sabha.

When asked to make the statement by the Speaker, he had to get the papers from Kaur, the official said, arguing that it was not a case of absent-mindedness. PTI added this clarification to the original report.

However, in a legal notice served on the news agency, a lawyer representing Krishna said the report was ''completely false'' and ''malicious'' and demanded a public apology ''along with an advertisement.''