Ticked off by his party for praising the Aam Aadmi Party, Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday changed his tune, saying the outfit was just a "platform", unlike the Congress.
"The AAP is not a party, it is a platform. Basically, the AAP has been an agitation, not a party. The Congress party is a party of ideology, governance, office-bearers and structure," he told reporters.
"If you do not have a party, you will have anarchy in our country. You cannot have chaos and anarchy," the Congress leader added.
Ramesh said the overall ideology of the 128-year-old Congress party was a cohesive one.
His U-turn comes two days after he was ticked off by the party for saying the AAP has been raising legitimate issues and asked the political class not to make fun of it.
Asked about the role of the AAP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Ramesh said it was too early to comment about the party’s national impact.
"Delhi, certainly, they have planted their flag in and they are getting a lot of media space. But to what extent they are going to have a national impact, it is too early to say," Ramesh stated.
When pointed out that he had been criticised by his party for praising the AAP, Ramesh tersely retorted, "I was also told."
Image Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jairam_Ramesh