Taking a jibe at Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray for his comment that Sushma Swaraj is the 'only deserving" prime ministerial candidate in the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress on Sunday said the National Democratic Alliance has the habit of 'counting chickens before they hatch.

"The larger NDA suffers from a unique malady of anointing prime ministers without awaiting for people's verdict...The NDA/BJP should not count their chickens before they hatch," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told PTI.

In an interview to Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Thackeray has said Swaraj, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, is the only leader in the ally BJP who would make a  'deserving' prime minister.

"At present there is only one person who is intelligent, brilliant - Sushma Swaraj," Thackeray said.

Reacting cautiously to Sena chief's comment, BJP leader Balbir Punj said his party has a 'number of competent leaders' who are capable of becoming prime ministers. Tewari said, "While in 2007 there was one prime minister-in-waiting (in NDA), by 2012 the numbers are multiplying at a rate that defies the logic of calculation," he said.

In a sarcastic remark, All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh said since Swaraj's name has been proposed by Shiv Sena as NDA's prime ministerial candidate, she should now clear what is her party's stand on attack on migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in Maharashtra by Sena and MNS workers.

"Would the BJP clear its stand on Shiv Sena and MNS' views on migrants from Bihar and UP? Particularly Sushma Swaraj, as she is their PM candidate now," Singh tweeted.