For Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Sushma Swaraj, there cannot be a worse faux pas than being given a Gandhi surname. But that's what happened on Thursday.

A press release issued by the National Democratic Alliance criticising the advertisement blitzkrieg by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government 'eulogising (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi on her birthday', referred to the BJP leader as 'Smt Sushma Gandhi'.

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It said 'Smt Sushma Gandhi' was among those present at the NDA meeting where a resolution on the advertisements was passed.

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When journalists pointed out the mistake to NDA convener George Fernandes, who read out the release, he and BJP spokesman V K Malhotra clarified that it was a 'typing error'.

The Sushma Swaraj-Sonia Gandhi rivalry dates back to 1998 when the former contested against the Congress chief in Karnataka's Bellary parliamentary constituency.

After the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Sushma Swaraj had threatened to tonsure her head if the Congress president became the prime minister.

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Also, there were other mistakes in the press release. It referred to Indian Federal Democratic Party leader P C Thomas as P K Thomas and mentioned his party as Congress (Mani). Besides, it referred to BJP Rajya Sabha member of Parliament B J Panda as J Panda.