Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has been appointed deputy prime minister. According to a private TV channel, a notification to this effect was issued late on Monday that stated that Elahi would not exercise the powers of the prime minister. Some media reports stated that the position had been created to provide a backup for times when the incumbent prime minister was not available or incapacitated. Earlier, 15 members belonging to the PML-Q were sworn in as federal ministers and ministers of state while former minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada refused to rejoin the cabinet. President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath to Sardar Bahadur Khan Sehar, Liaquat Abbas Bhatti, Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Anwar Ali Cheema, Ghous Bukhsh Mehr, Jam Muhammad Yousaf and Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain. Rana Asif Tauseef, Malik Nauman Ahmed Langrial, Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf, Senator Saeed Khan Mandokhel, Chaudhry Ghias Ahmed Mela, Akram Masih Gill and Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood were inducted as the new ministers of state.
Meanwhile, Online news agency reported that Riaz Pirzada had refused to join the federal cabinet. According to Online sources, after failing to secure important ministries for PML-Q members, Chaudhry Shujaat and his cousin Pervez Elahi were having a hard time in convincing their party’s parliamentarians to take charge of their previous ministries. The source said that Shujaat had set up a consultative committee headed by Elahi to remove and review reservations of the annoyed parliamentarians. Earlier, Faisal Saleh Hayat and Raza Hayat Hiraj had refused to join Pervez Ashraf’s cabinet.