Karachi: Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah is likely to resign from his office to vacate the position for Syed Murad Ali Shah, currently working as the provincial finance as well as senior minister, party sources on Monday said.

His cabinet would also stand dissolved after his resignation, expected to be formally submitted this week, they said.

The decision were made by the top leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) including former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, during a weekend meeting in Dubai, where all the senior members, including Shah, were summoned.

The reshuffle is expected to take place coming weekend, when the Sindh Assembly would meet on Friday. Sources said that the incumbent chief minister as well as the ministers would submit their resignations on Thursday to the governor of Sindh.

The aspiring candidates for the chief minister office would submit their nomination papers in the assembly on Thursday so that the next day, voting could be held to elect the new chief minister of the province, where PPP has ample majority.

Murad Ali Shah has been tipped as the strongest candidate for the top government job but Nisar Khoro, the senior PPP leader and minister as well as Agha Siraj Durrani, the speaker of the assembly might be the backup candidates.

Bilawal, who is currently in Dubai, is likely to arrive in Karachi tomorrow to head the meeting of the party leaders, discussing the cabinet shakeup.

The party sources said the new chief minister would prefer to make his own team of ministers, but half of the present cabinet members are likely to take oath in the new cabinet.

Currently 18 ministers as well as almost equal number of advisors and special assistant to the chief ministers have been working under different portfolios.

Chief Minister Shah, who served the office thrice, on his arrival in Karachi this morning, told the media that he would ‘abide by the party’s decision.’ He further said that he was an ordinary worker of the party and would keep serving in that position in future as well.

Shah has been a founding member of the PPP as he joined the party in 1960s, when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the former prime minister who founded the party.

Political analysts believe that the new administrative set up in the province, would be influenced by Bilawal, who is gradually inheriting the political mantle of his father.