Cong working on names for berths

The Congress leaders, who also briefed party president Sonia Gandhi, were expected to sit again late at night to finalise the list to keep the deadline for swearing-in tomorrow.

Three leaders, whose inclusion in the ministry was considered a certainty, were Patangrao Kadam, Pramod Shende and Sarup Singh Naik.

The formula worked out for the distribution of ministerial berths among various regions and supporting groups was one post for four MLAs. This implied that Vidarbha, with 19 MLAs, would get the maximum of five ministers, followed by Mumbai and Konkan with four. Western and Northern Maharashtra were expected to get three posts each, and the rest, seven.

The party has an unenviable task in hand, considering there are only 18 berths and its obligation to give representation to all regions, social sections and groups in the party.