The Manmohan Singh cabinet has deferred the second phase of expansion scheduled for Tuesday, due to last-minute wrangling over berths and ministries. As many as 50 ministers, including 10 with cabinet rank and 40 ministers of state were to be sworn in today.

As of now, party considerations have a greater say in portfolio allocation while Congress president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi is reported to be in favour of a better balance of regions and caste in the new cabinet. There is pressure to have greater representation of Muslims, Dalits and women.

UPA allies are also worried that the Congress leaders are cornering key portfolios while the seemingly less important ones are being given to partners.

There is, in fact, a rush of Congress candidates from states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, where the party has fared better. All of them, including some former chief ministers, are vying for key portfolios.

At least two former chief ministers, Vir Bhadra Singh from Himachal Pradesh and Vilasrao Deshmukh from Maharashtra, are seeking cabinet ranks.  Congress MP from Uttar Pradesh, Beni Prasad Verma, is also in the fray for a cabinet berth.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah is also expecting a cabinet berth while opposition leader in Karntaka, Malikarjuna Kharge also wants a cabinet berth.

The issues over the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) representation in the cabinet is expected to have already been settled and all seven DMK ministers were to be sworn in today. Meanwhile, Kanimozhi, daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister K Karunadhi, is reported to have opted out of the ministry.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is also likely to get seven ministers of state berths along with her own cabinet rank.

While 19 cabinet ministers had been sworn in along with prime minister Manmohan Singh during the first round on Friday, portfolios have been allocated to only six ministers. Cabinet ministers like Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, C P Joshi and Ghulam Nabi Azad, are yet to be allocated portfolios.

Rajasthan Congress president C P Joshi is expected to get the rural development portfolio while Kapil Sibal may get either human resource development or commerce portfolio.

Kamal Nath is likely to get commerce and company affairs while former tourism minister Ambika Soni could get the health portfolio.

Earlier, a meeting of prime minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel to finalise cabinet expansion was postponed.

A Congress core group meeting chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi and attended by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister A K Antony and political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel, met later in the day to discuss the allocation of ministerial berths and portfolios threadbare.

Cabinet expansion is now expected to take place on Thursday, with Wednesday being the death anniversary of India's first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, during which representatives of DMK and other UPA allies would be among those to be inducted in the government.