Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori continued tinkering with the task of matching Cabinet portfolios with names Sunday, but many of his appointments in the reshuffle expected Tuesday are likely to be old hands retained from his present administration, political sources said.

Names linked with ministerial positions Sunday included the retention of Takeo Hiranuma, current minister of international trade and industry, as head of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to be formed under a major government regrouping to take effect Jan. 6.

The post had been sought after by both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party faction headed by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and by the LDP group co-led by party policy affairs chief Shizuka Kamei and former defense agency chief Takami Eto. The latter, of which Hiranuma is a member, is getting its way.

As a result, former Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga, who was recommended for the trade and industry position by the Hashimoto faction, is likely to get a different portfolio, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Mori also hopes to have Chikara Sakaguchi, deputy leader of New Komeito -- a junior member of his tripartite coalition -- assume the position of minister of health and labor.

So far, the prime minister plans to keep Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, Construction Minister Chikage Ogi and Environment Agency chief Yoriko Kawaguchi in his new Cabinet.

Mori also plans to appoint Toranosuke Katayama, a House of Councilors member of the LDP, as posts and telecommunications and home affairs minister as well as head of the Management and Coordination Agency.

The three departments will be merged under the government reorganization.

Mori is also asking Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya to remain in the Cabinet, the sources said. Sakaiya has said he does not want to remain in his current capacity, and some political sources said Mori was seeking to retain Sakaiya as minister in charge of information technology, one of his key policy pillars.

Ogi is leader of junior coalition partner New Conservative Party. Both Kawaguchi and Sakaiya are nonpoliticians.

Mori has already decided to retain Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda. If these selections are finalized, the main positions in the new Cabinet will not appear too different from the way they stand now, some observers said.

In an apparent effort to counter such criticism and in effect give some sense of freshness to the new lineup, the prime minister is also considering asking former Science and Technology Agency chief Makiko Tanaka to join the new Cabinet in a move to burnish its image -- popularity ratings have dropped below 20 percent.

However, this idea faces stiff opposition from within the LDP. Tanaka is the daughter of the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and is popular for her outspokenness -- often against her own party leaders.

Mori is planning to introduce the new 17-member Cabinet -- one fewer than the current 18 -- to prepare for administrative reform.

He is planning to choose four ministers by himself and allocate two posts each to the Hashimoto, Mori and Eto-Kamei factions as well as to a group of lawmakers in a faction led by former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato but who are critical of him over his attempt to oust Mori late last month.