UP polls: Jaya delivers speech in Hindi for first time

She's known for her oratorial skills in both Tamil and English, but All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa on Monday took everyone by surprise at an election rally in Allahabad by making a full-length speech in Hindi for the first time in her political career.

As she read out from a prepared text, Jayalalithaa bowled over the audiences and the leaders with her Hindi.

"I am speaking in Hindi for the first time. Forgive me if I make any mistakes," she said as she began her speech, evoking loud applause from the audience.

Later while talking to reporters, the AIADMK leader said she was not at all nervous while speaking in Hindi, the first time she has used the language in a speech in her 25-year-long political career.

"My second language in school was Hindi," she said adding, she will continue to use the language at public rallies in the future.

Campaigning for Samajwadi Party candidates, Jayalalithaa read out from a prepared Hindi text, slamming Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on the Ottavio Quattrocchi issue and the party's decision to join hands with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The AIADMK chief alleged that when Quattrocchi was arrested in a foreign country, the government did not make any efforts to bring him back to India to face trial in the Bofors case.

Jayalalithaa criticised Sonia Gandhi for the Congress joining hands with the DMK, saying, "Sonia Gandhi had described the DMK as her husband's killers. This is enough to raise questions about her credentials."

Jayalalithaa also trained guns at Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of late prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, saying he did not know Indian culture which does not believe in talking ill about people who are no more. "He has been brought up in a Western atmosphere. Hence, he is not aware of Indian culture," she said.

Jayalalithaa ended her speech on a poetic note praising Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Ek hai Mulayam is watan mein, Ek hai Chanda is gagan mein" (There is only one Mulayam in the country, there is only one moon in the sky), she said.

Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu also spoke in Hindi and attacked the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. "While Congress is opportunistic and playing the religion card, BJP is furthering its communal agenda," he said.