ISLAMABAD - With the induction of five Federal and six Ministers of State in the Federal Cabinet, the Cabinet size swelled to hefty 55 some six more than the authorised strength of the Cabinet under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, though it is not applicable on the incumbent government and would be obligatory for the next government.However, the size of the Federal Cabinet is in complete negation to the Prime Minister’s statement which he had given at the floor of the National Assembly at the time of the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment that though the condition of Cabinet size fixed in the 18th Amendment was not applicable on his government but they would be bringing down the Federal Cabinet within that limit.Subsequently, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani honoured his words and limited his Cabinet to 22 members with 21 Federal and one Minister of State. The devolution of some 11 Federal Ministries and a few divisions and allied departments of various Ministries to the provinces under the 18th Amendment also contributed to materialisation of the Prime Minister’s pledge with the nation to bring down the Federal Cabinet within the size of 11 per cent of the total strength of the Parliament.But with the passage of time the political limitation forced the government to swell the size of the Cabinet and a massive induction of well over a dozen Federal and State Ministers were inducted after the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) joined the Treasury benches.In the light of the formula given in the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the total strength of the Federal Cabinet should not exceed 11 per cent of the total strength of the Parliament, including advisers and Special Assistants to the Prime Minister.The total strength of the National Assembly is 342 while Senate has membership of 104 members right now. And collectively the Parliament’s strength is 446 and its 11 per cent is 49, which would be the upper limit of the Federal Cabinet strength applicable from the next government.Though there is no Constitutional bar on the government to keep the Federal Cabinet within this limit but the acts of government were in total negation of their statements wherein they never stopped talking about the good governance and austerity drive on part of the coalition government.Political observers saw the current move by the PPP government, wherein they have totally ignored its coalition partners, and inducted all the Ministers from PPP and that too mainly from Punjab showing the government’s intention to strengthen its position in Punjab, ostensibly in the wake of general elections which could be announced anytime after the presentation of Federal budget in the last week of May.All 11 newly inducted Federal Ministers and Ministers of State in the Cabinet belonged to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and coalition partners including Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were given no share.The newly elected Federal and State Ministers, who were not allocated portfolios yet included Qamar Zaman Kaira, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Farzana Raja, Rana Farooq Saeed and Nazar Gondal Federal Ministers while Raheela Baloch, Abbas Khan Afridi, Mozzam Ali Jatoi, Malik Ammad Khan, Tasnim Ahmad Qureshi, Syed Samsam Ali Bokhari & Malik Azmat Khan were inducted in the Federal Cabinet as Ministers for State. Before the induction of these Ministers there were some 30 Federal Ministers, eight Ministers for State and four advisors and equal number of special assistants with the status of Minister of State.The 30 Federal Ministers comprised Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Arbab Almagir, Ahmad Mukhtar, Hina Rabbani Khar, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Wajahat Hussain, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Hazar Khan Bajarani, Firdous Ashiq Awan, A Rehman Malik, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Farooq Naek, Khuda Bux Rajar, Israrullah Zehri, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Farooq Sattar, Dr. Asim Hussain, Babar Ghauri, Muhammad Umar, Ghous Bux Mehar, Anwar Ali Cheema, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Syed Khurshid Shah, Changez Khan Jamali, Shaukatullah, Makhdoom Shahabuddin and Syed Naveed Qamar.The Ministers of State included Sardar Shahjahan Yousaf, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Sardar Bahadur Khan Sehar, Muhammad Raza Hayat Hiraj, Akram Masih Gill, Dr. Nadeem Ehsan, Rana Asif Tauseef and Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood were also part of the Federal Cabinet. Similarly, four advisers to Prime Minister included Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar Human Rights, Raja Basharat Industries, Ghulam Farooq Awan Law and Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Dr. Paul Bhatti National Harmony and four Special Assistants to Prime Minister are Syed Qasim Shah, Kamal Majidullah, Ahmad Yar Hiraj and Shahnaz Wazir Ali also included in the Cabinet.