The drive is expected to bring life to the state unit of the Congress, which has long been inactive with party leaders preoccupied with bitter infighting. While Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma, who is facing a rebellion from party colleagues, is mostly seen in Delhi fortifying his position, the recent appointment of Jagdish Tytler as AICC in-charge of the state has made little impact.

The state unit's failure to project itself as a credible opposition party has proved to be a big dampener to the Congress, which aspired to revive itself in Bihar and therefore, even abandoned a reliable ally like Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Congress leaders believe the IYC membership drive could be the launching pad for the party to initiate the process of revival. A similar drive in Jharkhand was said to have a strong bearing on the Congress' performance in the recent Assembly elections, which saw the party improve its tally to 14 seats from 9 seats that it had won in 2005 elections. The IYC had enrolled 3.5 lakh members in Jharkhand. Some Congress leaders even believed that had the IYC launched its membership drive before the Assembly elections in Haryana, the Congress could have fared better in that state.

Source: Financial Express Rahul to woo Bihar, launch IYC membership drive