Though he functioned as de facto president after being chosen last month, the formal appointment was held up for technical reason. ``It's a major responsibility since we have to establish a parallel organisation in a short time with the elections ahead of us but I am confident that we will do it,'' he said.

The weekend discussions for alliances with the Janata Dal, Peasants & Workers Party, Communist Party of India and Samajwadi Party are scheduled to continue for the next few days. With the Republican Party of India led by Ramdas Athawale deciding to join forces with the NCP, it opens up more avenues for the NCP. Bhujbal refused to commit himself to thenumber of seats demanded by Athawale -- six Lok Sabha and 60 assembly seats in Maharashtra -- but said that all party leaders will have to sit together and work it out.

Meanwhile, the Congress is also getting into the election mood. Senior leader and CWC member Arjun Singh is visiting Mumbai for the second time in two weeks tomorrow. He is scheduled to have discussions with Muslim community leaders and intellectuals in a bid to convince them of the good character of the party.

Madhavrao Scindia, AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra, will be touring the state later this week. He is scheduled to start from the Maharashtra-Karnataka border Belgaum, drive across Kolhapur and Pune in the sugar lobby region and move on to Aurangabad. Coming ahead of the party president Sonia Gandhi's Pune rally in early August, his visit is expected to stir the Congress out of its stupor.

The Congress lost another MLA today with Sunil Tatkare with a substantial following in the Konkan region chose to align himselfwith the NCP. His decision was delayed because he wanted to ascertain the mood of the largest number of party workers in the region, he said. Tatkare was considered a close confidant of former chief minister AR Antulay.