Rahul to hold consultations with Bihar leaders tomorrow

Party sources said the meeting is related to organisational issues in Bihar and aims at discussing ways and means to strengthen Congress in the state

Rahul Gandhi will hold consultations with newly-elected PCC chief of Bihar Ashok Choudhary and CLP leader Sadanand Singh tomorrow in the backdrop of fissures in NDA over Nitish Kumar's "secular" pitch for the alliance's prime ministerial candidate.

Party sources said the meeting is related to organisational issues in Bihar and aims at discussing ways and means to strengthen Congress which has not been in power in the state on its own for more than two decades.

Rahul will also interact with some former PCC chiefs during the meeting for feedback on the party's position in the crucial state ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls.

In the faction-ridden Bihar Congress, Choudhary, a Dalit face was appointed the new PCC chief last month, almost two and half years after Mehboob Ali Qaiser resigned from the post following the drubbing in the last Assembly elections.

The rise of Mandal and Mandir politics had squeezed the vote base of Congress in Bihar, where the social engineering based on caste saw the rise of parties like Lalu Prasad's RJD, Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and afterwards JDU and BJP, which finally replaced the RJD rule in the state in October 2005.

The appointment of 43-year-old Choudhary, a lesser known face in the state politics, said to be done at the behest of Rahul, was a clear indication that the Congress vice president was looking for a long overhaul for the party in Bihar, which currently stands completely marginalised.

Sources that the former PCC chief Qaiser had also submitted a report to Gandhi some time back on the organisational strength of the party.

The meeting comes at a time when all is not well within NDA and there is a debate in Congress on whether it should join hands with Nitish Kumar's party, realign with the trusted old ally RJD or stick to its stand of "going alone".