DUP members of the Northern Executive are expected to resign their posts and be replaced by party colleagues tomorrow.
Party sources would not confirm the new ministers taking over from Mr Peter Robinson and Mr Nigel Dodds would be Mr Gregory Campbell and Mr Maurice Morrow. One said, however, that if he were allowed to bet he "would take £10 on Tiger Woods and those two names".
If Mr Campbell and Mr Morrow take over they will have to stand down from a number of Stormont committees but will be replaced by other nominees from the DUP.
A DUP spokesman said that it would not announce how long its new ministers would stay in place until Thursday.
Both Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein attacked the DUP's intent to resign its ministries.
Dr Esmond Birnie, the UUP MLA for south Belfast, described the move as "a smoke-and-mirrors illusion".
Dr Birnie said that the DUP had been "willing and constructive partners at all levels" in the Executive and Assembly and described Mr Robinson as the real mastermind behind this strategy. "Replacing the ventriloquists with the glove puppets is the cynical and desperate policy of men who love office," he said.
The chairman of Sinn Fein, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, called for the DUP ministers to be stripped of their power "if they do not mend their ways".
"Areas of priority concern presently in crisis such as housing and transportation cannot be left hostage to the irresponsible actions of DUP ministers," the Foyle MLA said.