After kicking up a row over his statement that the Sabarimala head priest had consulted him before threatening the closure of the Ayyappa shrine if women of menstrual age entered it, the BJP's state unit chief PS Sreedharan Pillai on Saturday, 10 November, took a u-turn saying someone else in the tantri's (head priest) family had sought his views, PTI reported.

Pillai, who is on a 'Save Sabarimala Rath Yatra' from Kasaragod to Erumeli along with Bharatiya Dharma Jana Seva president Tushar Vallapally, told reporters in Kozhikode that what he meant was that someone in the tantri's family had called him to seek clarification and not the tantri.

Since the head priest has clarified that he had not called him up, there is no need to doubt it, Pillai told PTI.