New Delhi, Dec. 29 (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will undertake an expansion and reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers today in which he may induct quite a number of new faces to fill vacancies including External Affairs for which veteran Karan Singh, is said to be the frontrunner.

The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 12:00 hours at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, but there was no authoritative word on who are likely to be inducted. Singh held two rounds of discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to give final touches to the exercise.

But political circles said there was not going to be any change in the key portfolios of Finance held by P Chidambaram, Defence (Pranab Mukherjee) and Home (Shivraj Patil).

Among the likely new entrants into the Cabinet are Ambika Soni (Punjab), who is tipped to get Information and Broadcasting, Vayalar Ravi (Kerala) and Murli Deora (Maharashtra). Saifuddin Soz, who was a Minister in the United Front Government in mid-90s, is widely tipped for inclusion as a Cabinet Minister.

There is also speculation that Governors of Maharashtra, S M Krishna, and Andhra Pradesh Sushil Kumar Shinde, may be shifted to the Centre.

Shibu Soren, who resigned when he became the Chief Minister of Jharkhand for a brief period last year, is likely to be re-inducted and given the Coal portfolio he had held earlier.

Among the other names doing the rounds are Mohsina Kidwai, who was a Cabinet Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Government, and that of new faces TNCC president, G K Vasan (Tamil Nadu), and Karnataka Congress leader Veerappa Moily, who is at present heading the Administrative Reforms Commission.

The exercise gained urgency with the Parliament session being advanced to February 16 and President A P J Abdul Kalam leaving on a three-nation 10-day foreign tour on January 31.

There are about half a dozen vacancies in the Manmohan Singh Ministry arising from the resignation of K Natwar Singh, deaths of P M Sayeed and Sunil Dutt, shifting of Ghulam Nabi Azad as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and K Rahman Khan becoming Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Another vacancy was created by the resignation of Jagdish Tytler in the wake of the Nanavati Commission's report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The Prime Minister had himself said there was a need for expansion of the ministry and indicated recently that he would apply his mind on the matter after the winter session of Parliament.