LAHORE: Former Punjab chief minister Dost Muhammad Khosa revealed on Tuesday that the senior leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have urged him to join their respective parties.
Speaking to a private TV channel Khosa said that his father also gave the same reply that he did to the PML-N leadership. “We both categorically rejected their demand to be part of PML-N again,” he said and added that “we cannot bear to be stabbed again by them.”
He said that his father had supported the Sharifs and joined them in 1985. He claimed that the Khosa family had always provided their shoulder to the Sharifs during their difficult hour. “They (Sharif family) were with us during our good days but when our bad days came, they were never there for us,” he alleged.
Dost Muhammad Khosa also said that among those who contacted him to rejoin PML-N were members of the Sharif family as well as those who “had the ear of Nawaz Sharif”.
The former chief minister of Punjab praised PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, stating that he had met the former president who had shown great regard for him. “The respect that Asif Zardari gave us is rare in politics nowadays,” he said and added, “I am thankful to him for this.”
He admitted that Zardari had offered him to become a part of PPP.
He said that there were chances the Khosa family would join PPP as he had advised his father to take that decision. He spoke highly of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and said that the Bhutto scion’s role in the coming days would be important.
“Bilawal is a young, fresh face which will be good for the party,” he said. “He is not stained with moral or financial corruption which is another exemplary quality in him. I think he will have an important role to play in the days to come,” he added.
Khosa also admitted that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) had also contacted him and extended an invitation to join the party. He, however, said that there was nothing in the party apart from Chairman Imran Khan.
MARYAM DENIES MEDIA REPORTS OF KHOSA-SHARIF PATCH-UP:
Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz has denied reports in the media that the ruling Sharif family is trying to woo back the estranged Khosa family.
Former PM’s daughter took to Twitter to dismiss the “unfounded news”.
“Who is feeding such misleading news to media & why? Would request media houses to verify before airing unfounded news,” she tweeted.
Who is feeding such misleading news to media & why? Would request media houses to verify before airing unfounded news. pic.twitter.com/5Ahn4rnSt9
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) October 24, 2017
The Khosa family also denied the media reports as “rumours”.
A close aide also confirmed that the Sharif family has not made any attempt to reach out to Khosa, the powerful politician from the impoverished DG Khan district of southern Punjab.
However, insiders in the Khosa family revealed that Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has recently asked Khosa if he was interested in meeting the PML-N leadership.
Last week, Khosa announced that he had accepted Asif Ali Zardari’s invitation to join PPP, though he didn’t say he was jumping ship immediately.
