Jayanthi Natarajan addresses a press conference in Chennai. She says she had not intended to hold a presser, but is doing so after her letter appeared in the Hindu. She accepted that she had written the letter.

She says that she is extremely pained to have to take the decision to quit the Congress. "I come from a family which has Congress blood flowing in her veins. It is a way of life for us. It is an extremely anguished moment that it has come to a situation where I have to rethink my association with the Congress."