October 08, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 08, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: About 20 new ministers are likely to be inducted into the federal cabinet after the joint session of parliament beginning on Wednesday.

According to official sources, the joint session is likely to continue for two to three days.

They said some minor changes would also be made in portfolios of some members of the cabinet.

The sources said that advisers Manzoor Wattoo and Sahibzada Hamid Saeed Kazmi were likely to take oath as ministers.

Among the new ministers, 10 to 12 will be from the Pakistan People’s Party, three or four from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, two each from the Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) and one from the Fata.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rahman denied media reports that the new ministers would take oath on Wednesday. “The prime minister has said that the cabinet expansion will be announced in a few days. All consultations have been completed,” she said.

However, ANP’s senior vice-president Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel said that names of new ministers had not been sought from his party yet. It had not been informed by the government about the date of cabinet expansion, he added.

He said the ANP had agreed in preliminary talks on power-sharing to a formula proposed by the PPP of one minister for every six MNAs. Two ANP ministers were sworn in and two others, Abdul Matin Khan and Zahir Shah, were nominated for the posts of minister of state. If the formula was changed, his party would demand its increased share in the cabinet, he said.

The MQM also said that it had not been contacted by the government on the issue.

PPP sources said the names of Tasnim Qureshi, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Safdar Warraich and Ijaz Jhakhrani had been decided, while Farzana Raja might also be included in the expanded cabinet.