Don't make fun of AAP: Jairam Ramesh

Asking politicians not to make fun of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Wednesday said the debutant party could take different avatars in states on the "legitimate issues" it was raising.

"We cannot ignore the AAP. Because what they are agitating about -- corruption, austerity in politics, simplicity in politics -- these are legitimate values," he told reporters here.

"Today, the Congress party is thinking about it (AAP). But the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has already lost its sleep due to the AAP. Prakash Karat is saying we are the AAP. If Badals (in Punjab) don't mend their ways, then the AAP will also eat up the Akali Dal. AAP is like Dashavatar. In different states, it can have different avatars," Ramesh said.

In an apparent reference to the Congress's defeat mainly at the hands of AAP in the Delhi Assembly polls, he said: "If we had brought the Lokpal Bill two years ago, we wouldn't have been facing the problems we are facing now."