PMO in awkward position over Tharoor's 'interlocutor' remark New Delhi: Minister - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's reported comments about Saudi Arabia's possibility of being an interlocutor between India and Pakistan seems to have put the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) here in an awkward position and it is likely to study his remarks. "We are unhappy at Tharoor comments," Times Now reported government sources as saying on Sunday evening. "Prime Minister Office will study remarks and is likely to issue a contradiction to Tharoor's remarks," the report added. Tharoor's remarks have caused considerable unhappiness in Government and it is likely that the matter will be brought to Prime Minister's attention, the report further quoted Government sources as saying. Tharoor who earlier said that Saudi Arabia could be a "valuable interlocutor" between India and Pakistan later clarified that he did not mean that Saudi Arabia should be a mediator between two countries. Later, clarifying his reported remarks Shashi Tharoor on Sunday twitted: "Good day of mtgs, marred in some Indian media by misunderstanding of word "interlocutor". An interlocutor is someone u spk to, nothing more." Tharoor was meeting a Saudi Arabia delegation in Riyadh when he made the remark.