THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At his evening press conference on Tuesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reacted to media persons’ questions regarding minister K T Jaleel’s phone calls with Swapna Suresh.

“The minister has clarified that he had called Swapna as directed by Consulate general and he had not talked to her for hours,” the chief minister said.

The chief minister pointed out that there was nothing unusual about the calls and the minister had given his clear explanation on the allegation.

Taking a dig at journalists, the chief minister said, “Got a weapon.. a minister had talked (to accused) and he can be caught now (sic) – this attitude is not right.

When the news of the minister talking to Swapna came out, media persons raced behind it but when the minister himself gave the clarification on it, the controversy was short-lived.”

Earlier, Jaleel said he had called Swapna as requested by Consulate General and he had never called her at odd hours. He also added that he had the screen shots of messages exchanged as proof of this.