Scindia's comeback may have engendered his optimism regarding the revival of the Congress; he belongs to the group which favours general elections sooner rather than later. But his recent tour of the four states in his charge—Orissa, Rajas-than, Bihar and Maharashtra—appears to have put him in a rather cautious frame of mind. While maintaining that the party is better off now than it was with P.V. Narasimha Rao at the helm, he admits it "needs a little more time" to prepare for elections.