KARACHI, April 25: Four more members of the ruling coalition in the Sindh Assembly are likely to be sworn in by Monday as ministers of the provincial cabinet, raising its strength to 22.

Among new ministers, at least one more woman MPA will be given a berth in the cabinet, increasing the number of women to two as Dr Saeeda Malik is already part of the cabinet.

Besides the induction of the new ministers, three special assistants and three advisers will also be announced on the occasion to accommodate party activists who failed to get tickets to contest elections in October, sources said.

This will be the third phase of expansion in the cabinet since the formation of the Mahar government, comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the National Alliance (NA) and the People’s Party Parliamentarians-Patriots (PPP-P).

According to insiders, three ministers will be inducted from among the coalition components. One from the PML-Q, one from the NA and one from the PPP-P. Whereas one minister and one adviser will be from the MQM, which is reportedly asking for two more seats on the cabinet in addition to the adviser.

The names being speculated in the government circles are: Dr Irfan Gul Magsi (Independent), Nadir Akmal Khan Leghari (NA) and Naseer Khan Khoso (PPP-P). The names of those from the PML-Q and the MQM could not yet been known.

Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar was heard telling a group of MPAs that the portfolios of the ministers would also be made public, including those of the three ministers who were inducted last month. They are: Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh, Osman Malkani and Naeem Ishtiaq.

Furthermore, the reshuffle in the portfolios of the ministers also remained a moot point during the last meeting between Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Mahar as the latter’s PML-Q men had a heart burning that the party had not been given its due share. “The coalition partners have been given important portfolios and they enjoy more say in the government affairs than the PML-Q ministers and MPAs,” they said.

The coalition partners, particularly the NA, have also been pressing for changes in the portfolios at the time of expansion; and the swapping of portfolios is expected in the local government, law and parliamentary affairs, irrigation and power, mines and minerals while information and health departments, which have been working without any minister so far, will also get representation in the cabinet.