Supported AAP to see how much it can prove itself: Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday said his party supported the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in forming the government in Delhi to see how much it proved itself.

In an interview to Times Now channel, Gandhi said the Congress has to transform itself as it prepares for the Lok Sabha elections.

Asked about his views on AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Gandhi said: "He is a leader of an opposition party like many others."

On the differing views in the party on giving support to the AAP, the Congress leader said his party thought that it should provide support.

"I think that as far as I am concerned, the AAP won an election in Delhi and we thought that we would assist them," he said.

"We thought we would assist them because our party felt we should give them a chance to prove themselves... and one can see what they are doing and one can see exactly how much they have proved themselves," Gandhi said.

Asked if he has changed views on the AAP after praising them initially, Gandhi said the way they have reached people in their own particular way good.

"The work that I have done in the Congress party, the work that I have done in the youth Congress and the work that I am going to do in the future is about bringing in youngsters into the party, strengthening processes, strengthening candidate selection process and strengthening policy processes," he said.

Gandhi said he had spoken earlier about something that the Congress "can learn from them (AAP)".

"What I felt that we could learn from them is that they reached out to people in a particular way that was good. There are things that I don't think we should take away from them."

"I think we have fundamental strengths in the Congress party and it is something that we have been working on for 3-4 years now. The real power of the Congress is the depth of the organisation and you can't make changes by destroying things," Gandhi said.

On the Lok Sabha elections, he said the party has to bring in youngsters.

"We have to do three things. One is we have to transform ourselves, we have to bring in youngsters, we have to give them space. Two is we have to look at manufacturing, we have already set up the corridors north, south, east and west, how we can take the energy of the Indian people and build a manufacturing superhouse... That is what I think the real issues are," he said.

Gandhi rejected the contention that the Congress had propped the AAP to divide the anti-Congress vote so that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not make gains.