By NNN-PTI

New Delhi : The Union Council of Ministers will be expanded today with the possible induction of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Raghunath Jha even as Minister of State for Personnel Suresh Pachouri resigned from the government ahead of the exercise.

Besides Scindia and Jha, both Lok Sabha (lower house) members, names doing rounds for possible ministerial berths include M S Gill, former Chief Election Commissioner, Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, V Hanumantha Rao, a Rajya Sabha member and V Narayanaswamy, Congress Puducherry chief.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi had a meeting in the morning to finalise the names.

Earlier in the day, Pachouri, who was also Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister with his Rajya Sabha term ending on April two, official sources said. He was recently appointed the Pradesh Congress Chief of Madhya Pradesh where assembly polls are scheduled later this year.

It is still not clear whether Minister of State in the Planning Ministry M V Rajashekharan, whose Rajya Sabha membership has also ended, will continue in the government.

President Pratibha Patil will administer oath to the new ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 1900 hours, official sources said.