Joint statement by Sunanda and Shashi Tharoor today on the Mehr Tarar controversy:

"We are distressed by the unseemly controversy that has arisen about some unauthorised tweets from our Twitter accounts.

"Various distorted accounts of comments allegedly made by Sunanda have appeared in the press. 

"It appears that some personal and private comments responding to these unauthorised tweets -- comments that were not intended for publication -- have been misrepresented and led to some erroneous conclusions.

"We wish to stress that we are happily married and intend to remain that way.

"Sunanda has been ill and hospitalised this week and is seeking to rest.

"We would be grateful if the media respects our privacy."

So, what was all that about?

Shashi Tharoor is at the centre of an unseemly but hilarious (for readers, for sure) cat fight between his wife Sunanda Pushkar and Mehr Tarar, a Pakistani journalist.

Yesterday, Twitter was abuzz with a series of romantic tweets that had been sent out from Shashi Tharoor's account and were addressed to Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

"I love you, Shashi Tharoor. And I go while in love with you, irrevocably, irreversibly, hamesha. Bleeding, but always your Mehr", "sadly my wife @sptvrock who gave up everything for me found out about my affair with u Mehr", "@mehartarar says if you don't end me the bbms by the time I wake up, I will get your message loud and louder. That is @sptvrock 's bbms", were some of the tweets that were sent out from Tharoor's account.

Tharoor then said his account and had been hacked.

Mehr Tarar speaking to TV channels said she has a great respect for Tharoor.  "How can I stalk someone sitting in Pakistan? I am being maligned. Why am I being called an ISI agent?

"I have met him just twice in my life. Should i call Mrs Tharoor a RAW agent?

"I met him during my last trip in June and I have been very open about my admiration and respect for Tharoor. Everything I have ever said about Dr Tharoor is on my timeline. Sunanda is trying to insult people's common sense. People in India have not accepted what she has said. Everything she has said is outrageous."