But, Dwivedy's proximity to Sonia is an open secret. He gives the finishing touches to Sonia's speeches in Hindi and has reportedly been doing this for some time now. He has also been helping her with her Hindi pronunciation though it is daughter Priyanka who has emerged as Sonia's main speech-writer and input provider, pushing Mani Shankar Aiyer to second spot.

But, Janardhan Dwivedy has signalled a more important trend -- that the post-Talkatora Sonia Gandhi is now readying to go in for her own team of leaders.

The rising stars around Sonia include Ambika Soni, Salman Khurshid, Madhavrao Scindia, Ajit Jogi, B.S. Hooda, Kapil Sibal, Kamal Nath, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, S.M. Krishna, Chandresh Kumari and Ahmed Patel. Ahmed Patel isused for the specific purpose of fire-fighting and placating the dissatisfied in the party.

While she is slowly building her own team -- the reference in her AICC speech to her realisation of who her friends were was a hint to that effect -- Sonia is also treading cautiously. After Pawar, Sangma and Tariq's rebellion, she does not want to risk antagonising any of the senior leaders, especially, with elections so close at hand.

There are five vacancies in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) today, including the three positions which were held by the rebel troika. But, Sonia is unlikely to fill these in for the time being and a reorganisation of the Congress's apex body can be expected only after the polls. That too will depend on how the party fares.

What hurt Sonia Gandhi about the nationality issue raised by Pawar, Sangma and Anwar was that other CWC leaders who were present did not come to her defence. The notable exception was Ambika Soni who put up a passionate defence of the Congress president.Yet another straw in the wind was the choice of those who seconded the AICC resolution -- a judicious mix of new faces and the experienced.

Nagaland Chief Minister S.C. Jamir is obviously going to replace Sangma who was at one time been being projected by Sonia. For that very reason, Congressmen are baffled by why he precipitated the crisis.

They were not surprised by Pawar's action, and many said they understood Tariq's compulsions, since he had been sidelined, but they are mystified by Sangma's action. There are reports that Arjun Singh had ticked off Sangma in Sonia's presence and she did not say anything. After that the distance between Sonia and Sangma grew.

In the normal course, it should have been Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Salman Khurshid, who as a representative from UP, should have seconded the resolution. But it was Ammar Rizvi who was selected. Though both are Muslims, Rizvi has been close to Narayan Dutt Tewari and though Khurshid has her confidence, Sonia has to takealong every group, particularly in UP, which is going to decide her fortunes.

Then there was Ranjit Deshmukh. He was obviously selected because he is a former PCC chief of Maharashtra, who was appointed during Pawar's time and is a Maratha. He was shouted down by the delegates when he referred to Pawar with a respectful Pawarji and was heard only when he started calling the trio ``traitors''.

Sonia Gandhi is looking for a young, clean, dynamic, articulate Maratha leader to counter Pawar on his home turf and the name of Prithviraj Chavan has been under consideration for the post of MPCC chief. Chavan may first like to safeguard his constituency, however, though he had won even in 1996, when there was a BJP-Sena wave in the state. There will be a bitter battle in Western Maharashtra between the Congress and Pawar's NCP. The Congress chief may also ease out the so-called coterie against which there was strong hostility at the AICC. Speaker after speaker, including Jamir, Ranjit Deshmukh and Ammar Rizvi,attacked it. Those who should know say that already Sonia has carried out some reorganisation at 10, Janpath. Arjun Singh, against whom much of the hostility was directed though his name wasn't mentioned once, has had to beat a retreat. Even Jayalalitha is believed to have refused to negotiate with him and Sonia had to send Manmohan Singh and A.K. Antony instead. Singh no longer represents Sonia's public face, though she is still using him for political tasks.Those close to her say she may use Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh more in the coming days in northern states, given his political management and his efficacy with the weapons of saam, daam, dand, bhed.

Besides a new breed of leaders, the style and culture of the Congress is also expected to change under Sonia who has emerged with a tighter grip over the party in the aftermath of her resignation. Though the Indira era also saw demonstrators being mobilised to support her, there were greater theatrics and flamboyance this timearound. It was high drama all the more meet for the age of television.

The situation was taken to a pitch with the ``resignations'' for nine days of Congress Chief Ministers, AICC office-bearers, PCC and CLP leaders, and some CWC members -- all to show that Sonia was indispensable. Sycophancy touched new lows and Sonia emerged with no second person on the horizon to challenge her.