ALLAHABAD: Union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma on Tuesday claimed that the Congress would win around 50 Lok Sabha seats in forthcoming general elections, while Samajwadi Party (SP) would meet its Waterloo. The party would be reduced to two seats and not four as he had said in the past.

Verma, who was in the city to seek support for party candidate in Handia assembly bypoll, was asked about Congress strategy to counter Modi hype and he replied "Rahul Gandhi will be our prime ministerial candidate. It will demolish all opposition. I will even sit on fast outside his house to persuade him." He also declared that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would be the main opponent in the state and would bag second largest number of Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Slamming the state government for custodial death of Khalid Mujahid, he said that Akhilesh Yadav-led government failed to protect the undertrials life and was now using it for electoral gains.