"Dream on" was the response from Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on PAS' declared ambition to win 40 seats in the next general election.

The Umno deputy president said the opposition party would win a lot less seats than what it aimed for, according to a Bernama report.

"As usual, before each general election, PAS would set a high target but what it had achieved so far was way off target.

"This time too, God willing, the same thing will happen," Najib said when asked to comment on yesterday's report that PAS aspired to secure 40 parliamentary seats in the next general election.

Yesterday, PAS vice president Husam Musa said the party is focused on winning at least 40 parliamentary seats in the next general election to strengthen the party's position in Parliament.

Husam stated that PAS was capable of springing a surprise in the coming election based on its strength especially in Kelantan, Perak, Kedah and Perlis.

The deputy prime minister also said he expects more PKR leaders to quit the party leaving it in limbo when facing the upcoming general election.

He told Bernama that the opposition party has lost its direction causing many of its leaders, especially at the grassroots to lose confidence in the party's leadership.

"Ijok was the beginning of the end of PKR," he said when opening the Nibong Tebal Umno delegates conference in Penang today.

PKR's Khalid Ibrahim lost to the BN's K Parthiban by 1850 votes in the Ijok by-elections held in May.

Disillusioned with PKR

Najib also said more PKR leaders and members were becoming disillusioned with the party.

"If theirs was a true cause and their top leaders so great, why would so many leaders leave the party?" he said.

He congratulated those who left the party for their 'high principles' including S Nalakaruppan, Ezam Mohd Nor and Anuar Shaari as proof that the party was headed for extinction.

Najib pointed out that PKR and its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's stronghold seat Permatang Pauh was waning and he was confident the BN would 'bury' the party in the coming elections.

He added that more than 30,000 Umno and BN members came out to show their support for the government when Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited the constituency recently.

"Four years ago, Umno could hardly draw a motley crowd there but now things have changed," he was quoted as saying.