Congress mocks Arvind Kejriwal, says why can't six-day-old chief minister dream of becoming PM

New Delhi: Congress today sought to ridicule the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leader Arvind Kejriwal after the fledgling party announced that it will contest the Lok Sabha election, saying there was no bar even on a Chief Minister of six days to "dream" of being the Prime Minister.

"Everybody has a right to dream. You cannot put a ban on people dreaming. There is no such law in the country. So many chief ministers are dreaming of becoming prime ministerial candidate.

"Some have been announced. Some themselves think that they are. Why can't Kejriwal think of it even though he has been a Chief Minister for only the last six days," party general secretary in-charge for Delhi, Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.

Mr Ahmed, at the same time, said there was "no challenge or threat" to Rahul Gandhi.

He was asked whether Mr Kerjriwal could prove a challenge to the Congress Vice-President in the prime ministerial race.

"There is no such challenge. No party can create a threat for Rahul Gandhi. Everyone in politics has his own stature, though they (AAP) have the right to their opinion," Mr Ahmed said.

Senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav earlier said that the country must have better options than Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi for the Prime Minister's post.

Asked if he would like to see Mr Kejriwal as the Prime Minister, he said, "We have again and again said that Rahul and Modi's fight (for the post) is unfortunate. The country must have better options than this.

"But are we in the position to (say that Kejriwal should occupy the post)? We will have to discuss that. My dream is to see Kejriwal as Prime Minister. He is capable of it but in politics one has to see... strength and where we stand," Mr Yadav said.

Outlining its national ambitions, AAP announced that it will contest "maximum" number of seats in most states in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the first list of its candidates will be out in the next 10-15 days. (Read)

Responding to questions on it, the Congress general secretary said that all small and big parties had a right to go to the people in a democracy.

To a direct question on whether the Congress felt that the AAP could pose a challenge to it, Mr Ahmed said that there was no such challenge which could create any panic, adding that rivals, in politics, are not taken lightly.

He also said that the conditions were different in Delhi, where the recent election saw AAP making a stunning debut while the Congress was decimated, and "different situations prevail in Lok Sabha poll".