ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: After a patch-up with the leadership of his party, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi could rejoin the federal cabinet when it is expanded, a government source told Dawn on Tuesday.

He said Mr Qureshi's name was “under consideration” for inclusion in the cabinet.

Mr Qureshi, in a statement on Monday, had affirmed his loyalty to the PPP. The party, in turn, had said there was no plan to take disciplinary action against him over what some party members called violation of the party discipline.

In his statement on Monday, Mr Qureshi had said he had “no personal grievances” against the party and its leadership over his exclusion from a 22-strong batch of ministers inducted on Friday and that he respected its decision to change the cabinet.

When contacted, President's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, expressed the hope that the issue would be resolved soon, indicating that the matter was not over yet. He, however, refused to talk about chances of Mr Qureshi rejoining the cabinet.

In reply to a question, Mr Babar said the cabinet expansion would take place after the return of President Asif Ali Zardari from his official visit to Japan next week. However, he said, it also depended upon the outcome of the PPP's ongoing talks with MQM and JUI-F.

The president is due to leave for Japan on Feb 21 for a three-day visit.