Off the coalition hooks?

After much delays, Rahul Gandhi’s two-day Bihar trip is finally set to kick off from February 1. He is likely to visit SC/ST and Muslim -dominated areas of Bihar, eyeing the traditional vote bank of the Congress, which had eroded to Lalu Prasad’s RJD. During the visit, Gandhi is unlikely to meet Prasad who was Congress’ biggest ally until he fought the 2009 elections without the Congress recently, eventually losing a place in the second UPA. In Tamil Nadu, too, the youth icon of the party deliberately skipped any meeting with DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. The message is loud and clear: the Congress wants to revive itself and try to come out of the coalition crutches.