While it is apparent that heads might yet roll, partymen foresee a coming tussle between Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranjit Deshmukh and Chhagan Bhujbal for the job of the leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council. Others, believing that Madhukarrao Pichad, who holds the job in the Assembly, might yet be made a scapegoat for the RS fiasco, are lobbying for the position in the Lower House.

The tussle appears part of a strategic positioning on part of the various lobbies in view of the fact that despite the problems in the Congress, partymen largely expect to return to power in the 2000 Assembly elections.

And whoever occupies the position of the leader of the opposition automatically has an edge over rivals for the job of Chief Minister.

However, the struggle between Deshmukh and Bhujbal, also manifest as onebetween the Maratha and the non-Maratha lobby within the Congress, might not quite take off. A section of the party leadership, including Sharad Pawar, are said to be of the opinion that firefighters within the party cannot be demoralised at this juncture. And that holding such jobs does not automatically entitle one to higher office.

But while Bhujbal might retain his job, Congressmen believe that Pichad, also a non-Maratha, could find himself done out of his. The Maratha lobby within the Congress has been miffed that all the plum jobs have gone to people they describe as ``minorities'', in this context meaning simply the `backward classes', or `other than Maratha'. There are many of those in the Legislative Assembly who are hoping to succeed Pichad to his job in the Lower House, should he be picked upon as a scapegoat for the RS imbroglio.

To help him on the way, a section of party legislators are baying for his blood on the grounds that he allegedly ``misled'' the party high command about the realfacts of the case when he met them in New Delhi last week.

Both Deshmukh and Pichad were summoned to New Delhi by a reportedly ``angry'' All India Congress Committee general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, this morning. Deshmukh reported sick to the earlier summons and the party high command is said to be dissatisfied with Pichad's earlier testimony. Not surprisingly, they have chosen to hide behind Pawar's skirts and the two leaders will now meet the party high command only in Pawar's presence on his return from London tomorrow. Meanwhile, to add to the Congress' woes Arun Mehta, who won the Council polls as an independent, has developed his own ambitions vis-a-vis the Chairmanship of the State Legislative Council. This is something that worries all party leaders because while the Congress-led Opposition still has a tenuous majority of one in the Upper House, they cannot support Mehta, technically now out of the Congress. Moreover, in view of the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party's NS Pharande, currentlythe deputy chairperson of the House, is earnestly bidding for the job, they do not wish to force another contest at this crucial juncture.

State Congressmen believe that it is still likely that the 10 Congress MLAs who signed Mehta's nomination papers might yet be picked upon by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for a head count. According to reliable sources, the signatories were led to believe that Mehta had secured the permission of the party high command to contest as an independent but due to a bungling by the PCC his ``faxed'' letter was never received by Sonia Gandhi. As a result, the signatories have been rendered vulnerable.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on Pawar as he returns to New Delhi this week, waiting to see if he is reigned in or continues with a free hand in state politics. The outcome, depending on whether he is bitter or in a conciliatory mood, will largely determine the state of party unity in the future.