In an extraordinary step, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today served a legal notice on Press Trust of India for reporting that he appeared to be absent minded when called upon to make a statement by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

PTI had reported that when Speaker Meira Kumar called Krishna to make statement yesterday on the the situation in Sri Lanka, he was not in his seat and was engaged in conversation with some members in the aisle.

The report said that as Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar drew his attention to the Speaker's direction, Krishna failed to immediately find a copy of the statement in his file. Lok Sabha Secretariat staff had then provided him with a copy.  

Late at night, a senior official of his ministry called PTI to state that Krishna, who was handling questions in Rajya Sabha had handed over certain papers to his deputy Preneet Kaur which were meant for his statement in the lower house.