Embattled Chaudhrys turn to Gilani for help

Struggling hard to deal with differences within their party, the Chaudhrys sought Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s help on Sunday in addressing the challenges to their party’s unity in the wake of the alliance between the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and it was the result of such efforts that the premier changed the portfolio of Riaz Hussain Pirzada from Minorities Affairs to Health.
PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, along with his cousin Senior Minister for Defence Production and Industries Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi called on Gilani when a number of angry PML-Q workers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, led by Federal Production Minister Ameer Muqam, were issuing derogatory remarks about the Chaudhrys at Margala Hotel. PML-Q Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) President Ameer Muqam had convened a PML-Q KP General Council meeting without taking permission from the Chaudhrys to decide whether or not the PML-Q KP would remain part of the ruling coalition.
A source in the PML-Q told Pakistan Today that the Chaudhrys told the PM about the difficulties they were experiencing as a result of some parliamentarians’ revolt against the PML-Q’s decision to join the PPP-led coalition government. “The Chaudhrys told the premier that a number of newly-appointed PML-Q ministers were also unhappy with their portfolios, and requested Gilani to either change their portfolios or use his influence to avert their possible resignation as any such step would be highly embarrassing for both parties,” said the source.
The source said that Gilani assured the PML-Q leadership that he would make personal efforts to assuage the intra-party rift. “The prime minister promised the Chaudhrys that he would influence the five PML-Q senators who had formed a forward bloc in the Senate,” said the source. To accommodate the embattled Chaudhrys, Gilani changed the portfolio of Minorities Affairs Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada to Health, as he was set to resign from the cabinet. Previously, the portfolio of the Health Ministry was with the PML-Q’s Anwar Ali Cheema.
A source in the party said that Cheema would be accommodated in another ministry soon. After his meeting with the Chaudhrys, Gilani also appointed Ghaus Bux Maher as privatisation minister and chairman of the Privatisation Commission with immediate effect. Muqam gave a week’s time to the Chaudhrys to meet the demands of PML-Q KP workers, and threatened to leave the federal cabinet if they did not. He asked the Chaudhrys to call a meeting of the party’s central executive committee and take party workers into confidence on joining the federal cabinet.
“We will not work with the Awami National Party in the KP Assembly,” he told council members who attended the meeting. The PML-Q leadership should raise pressure on the ruling PPP to explain its position on the Abbottabad operation, he demanded. The committee members were angry because they claimed the Chaudhrys had recommended only their relatives and close aides to the federal cabinet in last week’s deal.
Muqam criticized Shujaat, who reportedly rang up MPA Nighat Yasmin Orakzai asking her what was going on in the provincial council meeting. “Did the Chaudhrys of Gujrat not know why the meeting was called by the KP chapter of party workers today?” said the minister. “Mr Chaudhry should respect the loyal leadership in KP instead of some figures who have been given ministries despite having no vote bank in the province,” said a clearly angry Muqam.