Ranjit Deshmukh is widely tipped to be the new chief of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee in place of Govindrao Adik, who is likely to be inducted in the Sushilkumar Shinde ministry.

The ministry expansion is scheduled for Saturday with Shinde having got the list of ministers approved by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday morning.

A formal announcement about Deshmukh's appointment as PCC chief is expected to be made after that.

He had accompanied the chief minister to Delhi and said the Congress president told him on Friday morning that he would be entrusted with a 'major responsibility'.

Deshmukh, along with Shinde, also called on Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh.

Deshmukh is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region. If appointed MPCC president, it would be his second stint in the post.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Sushilkumar Shinde said his ministry would be a 'bit' larger than the previous Vilasrao Deshmukh team, which had 58 members.

This he said is the result of him heading a coalition government.

Meanwhile, in a significant development, PWP leaders Jayant Patil and Meenakshi Patil also met Sonia Gandhi on Friday.

The PWP, with five MLAs, has extended issue-based support to Shinde's Democratic Front government.

With inputs from Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai