Thursday, April 28 2005 09:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ruling out a reshuffle in his Council of Ministers, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh last night (Apr 27, 2005) said he would add new members to his Cabinet today (Apr 28, 2005).

Deshmukh, after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, told reporters that the list of new Ministers has been approved by the party high command.

"The list of new Ministers has been approved by the Congress president. We will submit it to the Governor tomorrow," he said yesterday.

The Chief Minister said the time of the swearing-in ceremony would be decided after consulting the Governor.

Dismissing reports about a reshuffle in the State Cabinet, he said, "We had only sought an expansion of the Council of Ministers."

"Our Government is barely six months old and a reshuffle is not required now," he said.

Prior to the meeting with Sonia, Deshmukh held consultations with political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Maharashtra affairs Margaret Alva and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Prabha Rau.

The trio later drove down the Sonia's residence to take a final decision in the matter.

Asked if all the new Ministers would be MLAs, Deshmukh said, "All I can say is that the new Ministers will be members of the house."

The topic of appointments to various State boards and corporations also figured in the discussion.

"The appointments to boards and corporations of the Congress quota will be done in a ratio of 75:25," he said.

"75 per cent posts will go to party workers, while for the remaining 25 per cent MLAs and MLCs would be considered."

Asked if the Government was considering appointment of Parliamentary secretaries, Deshmukh said, "We will think about it after the Cabinet expansion."

Deshmukh met Sonia for the second time in two days. In the meeting with Sonia on Tuesday (Apr 26, 2005), he was directed to hold regular consultations with the State unit of the party before taking key policy decisions.

The Chief Minister was not too enthusiastic about expanding his Council of Ministers as he apparently felt it was a tool to keep the Congress flock together.

Party sources said the nod to Deshmukh for expansion of his Cabinet could be an attempt to rein him.

Several MLAs have been camping in the capital lobbying for a place in the Council of Ministers.

Under a power-sharing arrangement arrived at with coalition partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress can appoint 18 Ministers out of a total 43. Congress had inducted 15 Ministers when the Government was sworn-in in November 2004, leaving three Ministerial berths vacant.