What plans does Chacha for his rivals?

Maharashtra for Madhavrao Scindia, Kerala for R K Dhawan and Uttar Pradesh for Tariq Anwar -- thus has Chacha Sitaram Kesri worked it out, thus runs his work-allocation for Congress's newly-appointed general secretaries.

And then there is the whole of North-East and West Bengal for Oscar Fernandes to lord over, and Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana for Meira Kumar.

Kesri's portfolio-allocation, political observers point out, reveals much about his strategy to combat potential rivals in the party like vice-president Jitendra Prasada and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar.

"That he has given Maharashtra to Scindia (who will also handle Bihar and Orissa) shows the confidence the latter has acquired in Congress affairs recently," they say, "He (Scindia) will now have the formidable challenge of tackling Pawar in his own den."

Pawar's recent election to the Congress Working Committee at the party's plenary session in Calcutta has made Scindia's job all the more difficult, observers add.

Kesri's former political secretary Anwar, besides handling UP, will be in charge of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. His is the unenviable responsibility of keeping Jitendra Prasada at bay.

Dhawan -- who, in addition to Kerala, will handle Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu -- has been primarily assigned the responsibility of cutting down veteran Congressman Kunnoth Karunakaran to size. (Karunakaran, for his part, visualises the same fate for Kesri.)

"The experienced leader he is, Dhawan will be able to handle any crisis in the southern states," observers hold.

Fernandes, known as a gentleman in party circles, has been pitted in West Bengal affairs as an antidote to rebel Mamta Banerjee's stormy temper.

And Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, for Meira Kumar, is Kesri's test of her political calibre. Kumar's major responsibility will be to formulate a foolproof strategy to tackle the affairs of the once-militant Punjab.

"Kesri is keenly aware of the damage which his opponents can do him if they combine forces," observers comment, "Hence this carefully-planned strategy."