Saturday, January 28 2006 13:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Jan 28,2006) had a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi amid speculation of a possible expansion-cum-reshuffle of the Union Cabinet tomorrow (Jan 29,2006).

Gandhi drove to the Prime Minister's official residence accompanied by her political secretary Ahmad Patel and official sources said that Singh has lined up a number of meetings during the day.

With Parliament session being advanced to February 16 and President A P J Abdul Kalam leaving on a three-nation 10-day foreign tour on January 31, Sunday is the likely day for carrying out the Cabinet expansion and reshuffle exercise.

As the President returns from Seoul on February nine, new ministers would hardly have time to prepare themselves for the three-month budget session if the expansion is undertaken then.

The sources indicated that the exercise could be mainly to fill existing vacancies.

There are about half a dozen vacancies in the Manmohan Singh ministry arising from the resignation of K Natwar Singh, deaths of P M Sayeed and Sunil Dutt, shifting of Ghulam Nabi Azad as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and K Rahman Khan becoming Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Another vacancy was created by the resignation of Jagdish Tytler in the wake of the Nanavati Commission's report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Prime Minister's earlier attempts to reshuffle and expand his ministry had to be put off for a variety of reasons, leaving ministerial hopefuls waiting in the wings.

The Prime Minister had himself said there was a need for expansion of the ministry and indicated recently that he would apply his mind on the matter after the winter session of Parliament.