Annoyed by the repeated indiscretions of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, the latest being his criticism in Beijing of government policies on Chinese investment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today pulled him up for speaking out of turn and commenting on issues not concerning him.

A telephonic conversation with Ramesh, sources said, was the Prime Minister’s first official engagement this morning during which he is learnt to have told the minister that it was not advisable for him to make comments on the functioning of other ministries, especially when the issue at hand related to bilateral relations with an important neighbour like China.

Home Minister P Chidambaram is also learnt to have written a letter to the Prime Minister, protesting Ramesh’s remarks.

In Beijing over the weekend to attend an international conference on climate change, Ramesh had said that New Delhi was unduly “paranoid’ and “alarmist” about Chinese private companies investing in India.