New Delhi: Congress on August 31 dubbed as "hypocritical" AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa's statement that her letter to the then President K R Narayanan in 1999 was not for the Prime Ministership of Sonia Gandhi and said that it was a pathetic attempt on her part to wriggle out of a situation prompted by her personal motives and compulsions.

"The statement by Jayalalithaa today is hypocritical and an exercise of hairsplitting. It is also a pathetic attempt to wriggle of a situation prompted by her personal motives and compulsions," party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters.

Sharma said that Congress would like to know why Jayalalithaa kept mum for three years if her case was what she claims to be. "There can not be any retrospective clarification for political stands taken. Anybody with elementary knowledge of English language would interpret clearly what was sought to be conveyed by her through the letter," he said.

It may not be out of place to remind Jayalalithaa that at that time there was only one Congress (I) party in the country, therefore, her assertion that she had alluded to Congress (I) led by Gandhi as a means of identification in the backdrop of presence of other political formations who have split but carry the same name even though they are led by different individuals, is "hollow and untenable".

Congress on August 30 released a letter written by Jayalalithaa on April 21, 1999 to the then President K R Narayanan in the aftermath of the fall of the Vajpayee government in which she had said "the AIADMK has decided to extend support to a government to be formed by the Congress (I)-led by Sonia Gandhi".

PTI