Congress unhappy with Jairam Ramesh's praise of AAP

The Congress Thursday expressed unhappiness over union minister Jairam Ramesh praising the Aam Aadmi Party, and said those who have not experienced the pain of building a party can only express such an opinion.

Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi reacted tersely to queries on Ramesh's remarks, and appeared to disagree with the minister that there was delay in passage of the Lokpal bill.

However, Dwivedi said he was not speaking about an individual.

Jairam Ramesh, also a key strategist of the Congress, earlier said that had the United Progressive Alliance government brought the Lokpal bill two years back, the Congress would not have faced problems that it was facing.

On Ramesh's remarks, Dwivedi said it may be an opinion of some people who were over-enthusiastic.

"Misconception can be among those who have not been political workers. How much pain is experienced in building a party, how much struggle goes into it," he said.

He said those whose identities have been established all of a sudden can say anything because they have not felt that pain, not undergone that rigour.

Dwivedi said it was not wise to come to any final conclusion about Arvind Kejriwal's party which had formed the government in Delhi with support from the Congress.

The Lokpal bill was among the key issues of the AAP, which won 28 seats in the Delhi assembly elections, pushing the Congress to the third spot.

Ramesh had also said the AAP caused a political earthquake and praised the party's style of campaigning. He also termed issues raised by the AAP as legitimate.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had also referred to the AAP's success in the assembly polls and said the new party involved a lot of people which traditional parties do not.

Dwivedi said the Lokpal bill had been prepared by the government but there were obstacles in its passage and a broad consensus had to be built among parties.