The almost two-year-old Akhilesh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh will go for a minor expansion of the Council of Ministers on Saturday.
This will be the fifth expansion of the Council of Ministers in such a short period. The Cabinet expansion was scheduled on November 1 last year, but it was postponed following death of Samajwadi Party's sitting MlA Raja Ram Pandey.
Official sources said the new minister(s) will be administered oath by Governor Bl Joshi in the Raj Bhawan at 12 noon on Saturday.
Sources in the SP said that only one or two new ministers could be sworn in and some could be elevated.The last expansion of the ministry was held on October 11 when Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya was re-inducted into Cabinet after the CBI gave him a clean chit in the Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haq murder case of Kunda.
With a total of 59 ministers, one Cabinet berth is still vacant. At present there are 22 Cabinet ministers, including the Chief Minister, six Ministers of State with independent charge and 31 ministers of state.