Congress expects to win 7-8 seats in Bihar

Exuding hope that it may win seven to eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, the Congress state unit president Ashok Chaudhary today said the priority for him is to revive the party on a long-term basis.

"We are expecting to win seven to eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar by riding on the popularity of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, besides groundswell of public support in favour of the RJD-Congress alliance," Chaudhary told reporters here.

Contrary to projections in the media and by pollsters, the RJD-Congress alliance is set to win maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in Bihar as the electorate have reposed their faith in our candidates, Chaudhary said.

Praising RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for ably spearheading the campaign, Chaudhary said the results would positively reflect the hard work done by the leaders of the two parties to boost electoral prospects of the candidates.

It may be mentioned that the Congress contested on 12 Lok Sabha seats in alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD, which walked away with the lion share of seats at 27 with one seat going to the NCP in the elections.

Chaudhary, however, said the Congress would not go overboard with joy over perceived good performance in the general elections and launch a concerted effort to revive the fortunes of the party in the state on long-term basis.

"Post Lok Sabha polls, our first and foremost priority remains revival of Congress in Bihar," the Congress state unit president said pointing to his party's rapid decline in the state in the past 25 years during which it lost successive Assembly polls since 1990 with its representation getting reduced to four members in the present Assembly.