Hello. You did not show the underlined word to which the question refers. However, according to the response options, we can understand that the underlined word is "planning".
Answer:
Conniving
Step-by-step explanation:
The word "Conniving" is used to indicate that there is planning, a conspiracy to do something bad and harmful, such as deceiving someone. Accordingly, we can say that the word "conniving", could replace the word "planning" presented in the text, without changing the meaning of the sentence.