ISLAMABAD, March 25: Prime Minister Makhdoom Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani will be running the government all alone till Saturday when he is expected to form his cabinet after getting the vote of confidence from the National Assembly.

“The cabinet announcement is not expected before the vote of confidence,” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Khan Babar said here on Tuesday.

While acknowledging that there were still some issues that needed to be resolved between the PPP and the PML-N, Mr Babar hoped that matters relating to the cabinet formation would be sorted out in a couple of days.

This is for the first time in the country’s history that the prime minister will be running the country without a cabinet. Some political experts say there is no concept of a government without ministers, and practically speaking, there will be no government until the ministers’ appointment.

Sources in the PPP told Dawn that the first batch of ministers was expected to be sworn in on Saturday afternoon. They said that some party MNAs on Tuesday had submitted a resolution in the National Assembly, urging the prime minister to seek a vote of confidence.

A PPP office-bearer said that in the past prime ministers used to suspend rules and take vote of confidence on the day after their election. According to rules, a clear three-day notice is needed for a vote of confidence. “This time the party has decided to fully follow the rules and, therefore, Mr Gilani will take confidence vote on Saturday morning,” the PPP leader said.

Meanwhile, some insiders said that differences between the PPP and the PML-N over strategic portfolios like interior, information, defence, finance, commerce and foreign affairs were the main reason behind the delay in the announcement of the cabinet.

Under a previously agreed upon formula, all coalition partners are to get representation in the cabinet in proportion to their seats in the National Assembly and Senate. It is learnt that both the PPP and the PML-N had set their eyes on the ministries of information and foreign affairs but none of them is willing to take up the charge of finance.

The PPP is trying to convince the PML-N that there could be complications if ministries of information and foreign affairs are not headed by people of the party of the prime minister. Moreover, the demand of the Awami National Party (ANP) for the ministry of water and power had also put the PPP in a difficult position.

The PPP is reported to have offered some additional portfolios to the PML-N in addition to the ones previously agreed upon if it withdrew its claim on the two important ministries.

The sources said the PPP had suggested that Ishaq Dar, who had been the finance minister in the previous Nawaz Sharif government, should be given the key portfolio again.

The sources also said the PPP was considering appointment of Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi as foreign minister. The presence of only Mr Qureshi with party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and co-chairman Asif Zardari during their meeting with senior US officials on Tuesday has strengthened the impression that Mr Qureshi is likely to be the next foreign minister.

The sources said the names of Syed Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Raza Rabbani, Farooq Naek, Babar Awan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Dr Azra Fazal and Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar are being considered by the PPP leadership for inclusion in the federal cabinet.