News
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Chattha to woo PPP to form Punjab govt
* Senior PML-Q leader says Chattha negotiating with PPP with president’s consent
By Irfan Ghauri and Muhammad Bilal
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leadership has given the go-ahead to its Punjab Assembly parliamentary leader-designate Hamid Nasir Chattha to form a government in the province if the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) agreed to support him and did not reach an agreement with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the centre. “The leadership has asked Chattha to present this proposal to Asif Zardari and discuss with him the possibility of a PPP-PML-Q coalition in the Punjab,” a senior PML-Q leader told Daily Times on Wednesday. He said Chattha had a detailed meeting with Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on this issue. Sources told Daily Times that the PPP wanted the PML-N to share power with it in the centre, if it wanted PPP’s support for a PML-N government in Punjab. After a deadlock on the issue, the PML-Q has allowed Hamid Nasir Chattha to negotiate with the PPP, with President Pervez Musharraf’s consent, a senior PML-Q leader told Daily Times. “Chattha is in contact with Makhdoom Amin Fahim and they have recently had a meeting with Asif Zardari,” the source said, adding that another meeting is expected in a day or two. The PML-N won 104 seats in the Punjab Assembly, the PPP won 80 and the PML-Q won 68 seats in the Punjab Assembly. The PML-N claims support of 26 of the 35 independently elected members of the Punjab Assembly, of whom one won from two seats.
Courtesy Daily Times