PPP to expand Cabinet gradually

According to the sources, Syed Naveed Qamar would continue holding the portfolio of Finance Minister even after induction of Shaukat Tareen as Prime Minister’s Advisor on Finance. Tareen is most likely to take oath on Tuesday (today). However, it is decided for sure that Tareen would look after the day-to-day affairs of Finance while Qamar would focus on Privatization besides looking after the Finance Ministry.
Meanwhile sources have also thrown hints about the PPP contemplating on inducting a well-known figure from the media as Advisor to the PM on Information with the status of a Federal Minister.
The sources further told The Nation that PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari’s official spokesman Farhatullah Babar would be appointed as official spokesperson of the President with the status of a Federal Minister.
Names of the PPP parliamentarians and non-parliamentary aspirants for the Cabinet scrambling around these days include Samina Gurki, Asif Ahmed Ali, Senator Babar Awan, Farzana Raja, Farahanaz Isphani, Faryal Talpur, Yousaf Talpur, Aftab Shaban Mirani, Hazar Khan Bajarani, Sardar Saleem Haider and Fardoos Ashiq Awan.
Apart from new inductions in the Cabinet, the portfolios of some of the existing PPP Ministers are also likely to be reshuffled. The Ministries likely to get new faces as Federal Ministers include Interior, Defence, Water and Power, Petroleum, Information, and Information Technology and Telecom, the sources added. However, the sources insisted that the PPP would not carry out the Cabinet expansion in one go, rather it would prefer piecemeal changes as well as inductions.