Panaji, April 2 (IANS): Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Wednesday denied making sexist remarks about protesting women paramedics, and named a legislator, school principals and a junior bureaucrat as witnesses during an interaction on Tuesday where he is alleged to have made the comments.

Addressing a press conference at the state Secretariat, Parsekar said he had only asked the protesting paramedical personnel to step out of the sun and into the shade for their own sake.

However, some media reports quoted a woman protestor as saying that the chief minister advised women against staging protests in the sun, because it would darken their skin and in turn make marriage prospects difficult.

"I only asked them to step out of the sun, out of concern. You can ask (BJP legislator) Ganesh Gaonkar. There were three principals there and he (a junior bureaucrat from the information and publicity department) was also there. You can ask them.

"Why will I speak to them about their marriage prospects," Parsekar said at the press conference, on a day when BJP parliamentarian from Bihar Giriraj Singh also triggered a controversy vis-a-vis his comments on skin colour.

On Wednesday, a woman paramedic, one of the many who are on strike protesting the sacking of their colleagues, was quoted in the media as saying: "When we met the chief minister over our demands at Ponda today (Tuesday), he said the girls should not sit on hunger strike in hot sun as their complexion will become dark and they will not find a good bridegroom."