National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes and party colleague Digvijay Singh called on Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. Fernandes is said to have told Vajpayee that he (Fernandes) would prefer to stay out rather than being put in a ``difficult situation.'' Vajpayee reportedly remarked: ``How can my Defence Minister be out of the government?''

Finally, it was decided that Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Yadav and Ramakrishna Hegde would also be inducted as Cabinet Ministers. Digvijay Singh, who brought the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal into the NDA, is said to have been rewarded by Vajpayee with a ministerial berth.

Sharad Yadav also tried to build bridges with the BJP by calling on the top RSS leaders at theJhandewalan headquarters today. Urban Development Minister Jagmohan is being mentioned for the post of a chairman of ``religious shrines re-construction and rehabilitation authority,'' a Cabinet-rank post.

This is being done to accommodate veterans from the Delhi BJP into the ministry who can ``contribute politically'' to the party. Parleys were on until late tonight at the PM's residence on dropping Jagmohan from the Cabinet with the RSS leaders and Union Home Minister L K Advani pitching for him.

Sahib Singh Verma and Vijay Kumar Malhotra are almost certain to make it this time. There is no change likely in the portfolios of Yashwant Sinha (Finance) Jaswant Singh (External Affairs), L K Advani (Home) Murli Manohar Joshi (HRD) and George Fernandes (Defence).

Pramod Mahajan is also to continue in the I&B ministry. P R Kumaramanglam, Sikandar Bakht and Kanshiram Rana are also likely to be in the government.

It is now almost certain that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee will be the new RailwayMinister while Ajit Kumar Panja would be Minister of State with Independent charge. Mamata is said to have wanted another Cabinet-rank post but the PM told her that this would not be possible at this stage.

As announced earlier in the day, the DMK will join the government with Murasoli Maran and T R Balu likely to be in the Cabinet while A Raja of the Rajya Sabha will be a Minister of State. Two Tamil Nadu allies, PMK and MDMK, are getting two ministers each of the MOS rank.

N T Shanmugam and E Ponnuswamy are the likely candidates with the former getting independent charge of health ministry. Since Vaiko is not joining, the MDMK is now understood to agreed to send Senjee Ramachandran and M Kannappan as MOS.

Shiv Sena, a major ally with 15 MPs, will be represented by Suresh Prabhu and Manohar Joshi, former Maharashtra Chief minister and a Minister of State status for veteran parliamentarian Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.

The BJD, which put up an impressive performance in the company of BJP in Orissa, isexpected to retain both the ministers: Naveen Patnaik at the Cabinet level and Dilip Ray as minister of state. The BJP may get another post in the MOS rank.

Maneka Gandhi is expected to retain her rank and portfolio while other women MPs of the BJP may be inducted as well. Ram Naik from Maharashtra may be retained in Railways as Minister of State.

Joshi, Prabhu from Sena

MUMBAI: Former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Suresh Prabhu and veteran parliamentarian Balasaheb Vikhe Patil are likely to be inducted in the Central cabinet from the Shiv Sena quota with Joshi likely to get Water Resources Development and Prabhu expected to retain the Forest and Environment Ministry. While Joshi and Prabhu will have Cabinet ranks, Vikhe Patil will be a Minister of State with an independent charge of Agriculture Department.