New Delhi:
At the Ramlila Maidan, where Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Delhi's chief minister today, posters declared -
Aaj ka CM, kal ka PM (chief minister today, prime minister tomorrow).
Outside Mr Kejriwal's Ghaziabad residence this morning, an elderly man waiting to bless him before he left for the oath-taking ceremony, said, "Why CM, he will be PM."
Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party says it has nothing to do with the posters at Ramlila Maidan. "A political revolution has begun," said a young AAP member, comparing the moment to August 15, 1947, India's Independence Day.
Supporters at Ramlila Maidan gathered to witness the one-year-old party set up government, said they did not think it was too early for AAP to set national ambitions. "Some said Kejriwal would not get a single seat in the Delhi elections. He got 28. No one anticipated how big this would become. So anything is possible," a man said.
Earlier this month, after his party's spectacular performance in Delhi, Mr Kejriwal announced that AAP would also contest the general elections due by May.
The Aam Aadmi Party was born out a massive anti-graft campaign that Mr Kejriwal engineered along with Gandhian activist Anna Hazare in 2011, which galvanised India's middle classes to rise in protest against systemic corruption.
When he launched his party late last year, Mr Kejriwal was shunned by a disapproving Anna and was ridiculed by mainstream political parties. Undeterred, the fledgling party fought the Delhi elections in a stunning debut, winning 28 of the 70 seats.