Women and Child Welfare Minister C C Patil on Monday denied having made a statement favouring women wearing clothes which are not provocative.
"I said something, and it was reported as something else", Patil told reporters.
A section of the press reported him quoting on Sunday, "I personally don't favour women wearing provocative clothes and always feel they need to be dignified in whatever they wear".
Patil said on Monday that "Don't try to create a controversy in the new year".
The minister declined to repeat what he had said on Sunday when asked to do so.