A reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, including induction of some new faces, will take place on Saturday evening, official sources told PTI on Thursday night.
They said the ceremony will be held at 1930 hours IST at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Earlier in the day Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee held a second round of discussion with Bharatiya Janata Party leadership and National Democratic Alliance convener George Fernandes.
BJP sources told PTI that the induction of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is 'almost a certainty'.
The 90-minute meeting at Vajpayee's residence, attended by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, will be followed by talks on Friday and Saturday, the sources added.
Another 'sure entry', the sources said, is Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyaya, who met Advani earlier in the day. Banerjee, though, is reportedly not keen on Bandopadhyaya entering the Cabinet.