ISLAMABAD March 12: The much-awaited expansion of the federal cabinet has been further delayed by another two weeks, authoritative sources told Dawn on Friday.

They said the expansion would be made after the election of chairmen of parliamentary house committees and passage of the National Security Council (NSC) bill by the National Assembly.

The sources said the latest delay was mainly caused by differences between Mr Jamali and ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain over how to go about the matter.

They said the prime minister wanted to induct ministers in phases while PML-Q chief insisted on accommodating the maximum number of aspirants to keep the party united.

Mr Shujaat wanted to accommodate more MPs from the PML-Q which had felt aggrieved in the past because of what they saw as a disproportionately high representation given to allied parties like PPP-Patriots, the sources said.

They said that at a meeting between them on Wednesday, the two leaders had agreed to induct 15 to 20 new ministers and ministers of state in one go. However, President Pervez Musharraf was reported to be of the view that the cabinet should remain of the medium size and he would approve only about 10 more ministers in the expanded cabinet.

The allied parties in the coalition like the MQM, PPP-Patriots and the National Alliance will also be given more seats in the next phase, the sources said.

The sources said the list of probable ministers exchanged between Mr Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat on Wednesday was also presented by the prime minister to President Musharraf during a meeting with him at the GHQ on Thursday.

Another reason cited for the delay in the cabinet expansion is a still unimplemented decision to merge all five PML factions into one party, with smaller groups demanding share in the cabinet.