After the allocation of portfolios to the new ministers and appointment of four advisers there is little hope of expansion in the Sindh Cabinet despite indications from Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim to take a few more ministers and advisers.
Political sources on Friday said that Rahim was in a fix as on the one hand Pir Pagara has threatened to withdraw his support and on the other coalition partners defected PPP MPAs and his close supporters are unhappy over the selection of ministers and allocation of portfolios.
They said that four MPAs and former ministers Altaf Hussain Unnar, Mohammad Usman Malkani, Dr Saeeda Malik and Irfan Gul Magsi and one MPA and former adviser Naseer Ahmed Khoso had expressed displeasure over the way they had been ignored by the chief minister.
These MPAs are reported to have said that the chief minister had made arrangements which would suit him in taking decision without much opposition from his supporters other than the MPAs from MQM.
In their opinion, the dropouts had time and again been talking about the "fishy business" being rampant in some ministers.
Some ministers were allegedly reported to be involved in large-scale transfers, postings and appointment of revenue staff and staff in the fisheries department.
Sources said that education department was also under severe criticism for non-transparent management.
Though the CM has made some changes in the portfolios such as fisheries and livestock, home and revenue departments, still a lot of supervision of the performance of minister would be needed, sources said.
The decision to leave behind Shakir Ali and Naeem Ishtiaq has come about on the dictation from abroad.
Sources said Dr Saeeda Malik, best known for her temperament and over-zealous nature had failed to gain confidence of her colleagues. Her attitude with press was also quoted as one of the reasons for her ouster.
Adviser Naseer Khoso had promised to bring a few more MPAs from PPP into the fold of the Pakistan Muslim League or at least bring them to treasury benches but his promises remained unfulfilled, as he could not take the targeted MPAs into his confidence.
The failure of Khoso is mainly his falling political influence even in his own constituency.
Aftab Ahmed Shaikh who was adviser on home affairs and Waseem Akhtar who was adviser on local government, katchi abadis and special development have simply lost confidence of their party leaders.
Sources said that if there was any expansion in the cabinet or more advisers were appointed they would be new faces with "seemingly" clean record.
They said that despite his best efforts the chief minister could not retain home and revenue departments with him as he had been indicating to his close circle of friends.