Rahul has been working hard to reinvent the party with drawing young professionals into the Youth Congress.

Old guards such as Shivraj Patil, J. B. Patnaik, H. R. Bhardwaj, Prabha Rao, Margaret Alva, Shivraj Patil, MOH Farooq and Urmila Singh have been shifted to Raj Bhavans. Others such as Jaffer Sharief, Karan Singh, Mohsina Kidwai, Santosh Mohan Deb, R. K. Dhawan and M. L. Fotedar are also likely to find placements outside the party.

Ministers have crucial states under them. Ghulam Nabi Azad is in charge of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa and Puducherry, A. K. Antony has Maharashtra, Mukul Wasnik has Rajasthan, M. Veerappa Moily has Andhra Pradesh, Prithviraj Chavan has Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir and V. Narayanasamy has Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura.

Other talented hands AICC secretaries Jairam Ramesh, Jitin Prasada also hold important portfolios in the government.

The party may decide to allow the ministers to hold their dual charges, but this may impinge on their efficiency in both areas.

That leaves the party with just a few young, competent hands such as Digvijay Singh, B. K. Hariprasad, Janardan Dwivedi, Fernandes, Manish Tewari, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shakeel Ahmed, Satyabrat Chaturvedi, Jayanti Natarajan and Tom Vadakkan among others.

Sources said the party could borrow some from the Rahul brigade and induct them into the AICC as secretaries.