New Delhi: A day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raked up the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and described her as inexperienced and "security threat", Congress hit back questioning "ageing octogenarian" Atal Behari Vajpayee's competence to lead the nation.

"The attack is mean, malignant and beneath contempt…We don't want to make any personal attack… Vajpayee's advancing years and sinking health need more time for rest," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters at a special party briefing.

Condemning as "totally objectionable and outrageous utterance" dubbing of Gandhi as security threat if she became Prime Minister, Reddy said this indicated the "moral and cultural bankruptcy of BJP as political party".

When told that BJP had later made amends to the statement, Reddy quipped, "Any amount of explanation does not wash away the original sin."

BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said in Raipur on July 18 that "We have no problem with Congress making Sonia Gandhi or even (Pakistan President) Pervez Musharraf its President, but projecting her as Prime Minister could raise questions among the people about national interest and security." Later, Union Minister Arun Jaitley sought to retract the statement.

In a rare attack on the Prime Minister, the Congress spokesman sought to puncture BJP's claims about the competence, ability and experience of Vajpayee and was unfazed over the saffron party's plans to turn the next Lok Sabha elections into an Atal-Sonia face off.

PTI