With many of its partners deserting it, the NDA was a "weak" force and posed "no competition" to the UPA, the Congress on Thursday said and claimed that LK Advani will remain as "the prime minister in waiting".
"There is no competition between the UPA and NDA which is a weak force and has witnessed desertion by its allies, with the recent one being that of BJD," senior leader and party spokesman Kapil Sibal said here.
"The BJP-led NDA should know that alliances built on political opportunism are inherently unsteady," he said.
Taking a dig at BJP Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani, the Congress leader said, "Advani has been the prime minister-in-waiting for the last 40 years and will remain so as his dream of becoming PM will never be fulfilled".
Contending that Congress was the only national party with a presence in each state, Sibal also dismissed the Third Front as a "non-starter "and claimed it had "disintegrated" before its formation while none of its constituents had a national base.
"The Left parties will lose their bargaining capacity after the polls as their strength is likely to be depleted substantially," he claimed.
"Today, there is a historic moment before us. People are thinking that time has come to give absolute majority to the national party (Congress)," Sibal said.
Asked if the Congress wants to come back to power on its own without the support of its allies after the Lok Sabha polls, Sibal said "people of this country want that Congress should be supported".
He, however, hurriedly added that "Congress wants that it should get majority (in the polls) by taking along all its allies".
He said there was nothing wrong in any party wishing that it will get a majority. "I am sure the BJP or even the LJP wants the same," he said in response to a question.
Replying to another query, he said though there may be some issues with Samajwadi Party, but the latter had made it clear that post-poll they would support the Congress led formation at the Centre.
To another question, he put the blame on the Congress party not doing very well in UP during recent years to a pact between former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao and the BSP leaders late Kanshi Ram and its present supremo Mayawati.
On the anti-Muslim remarks of BJP leader Varun Gandhi, Sibal said "Varun does not deserve to remain in politics".
Regarding the Third Front, Sibal said, "The formation is neither cemented by ideology nor any Common Minimum Programme...the only thing that brings them together is their desire to pull themselves out of irrelevance. Nobody knows who is in the front and who supports who."
