The Congress, though a fringe player in the last elections, is convinced that it recovered a lot of ground in the polls and a major effort will push it back into reckoning.

But there has been no forward movement yet in its preparations since the Lok Sabha elections as the high command was planning to set the state organisation in order in the coming months.

The party's nation-wide membership drive has just ended on December 31 and the organisational elections are scheduled to start.

Rahul Gandhi is expected to start his Bihar tour next week when he plans to push the enrolment drive for the party's student and youth wings.

The state unit is in a complete mess with almost all senior leaders campaigning for the removal of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Sharma.

These leaders consider Sharma a greenhorn and ineffective against stalwarts like Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish.

The Congress strategy is to cut into the RJD's Muslim votes and the JD(U)-BJP's upper caste base, but an early election would hamper its efforts to a considerable extent.

The Congress was planning to bring back some of its old leaders, such as Jagannath Mishra and Tariq Anwar, before the election to support its strategy. But polls in April-May will leave it with barely two-three months to prepare.