LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) senior leader and former deputy prime minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Wednesday stood by his claim that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while desperately trying to form its government in Punjab, had contacted him seeking a coalition and offered him the slot of the provincial chief minister.
In an exclusive interview with prominent journalist and Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami in his TV talk show – Ho Kya Raha Hai, Pervaiz said that PML-N leader and former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq had contacted him and said that “he wanted to visit him at his residence”.
Earlier, in the same show, PML-N leader and Senator Musaddiq Malik had neither denied nor confirmed Pervaiz Elahi’s tweet stating that the Shehbaz-led party had “offered him 129 seats won by PML-N in Punjab and consequently the position of Punjab chief minister”.
The PML-Q leader also confirmed that he would be the Punjab Assembly speaker if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formed its government in the province because PTI chief Imran Khan “wanted so” and had requested him to accept the position.
“We maintained good relations [with PTI] for five years in the opposition and stood by each other during sit-ins and polls. Imran had said that it wouldn’t be fair to PTI if the chief minister belonged to any other party and that an experienced person should be the speaker to manage the continuous tussle that is expected in the house owing to a large number of opposition members,” he said, adding that to this, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat assured Khan of PML-Q’s cooperation.
When asked if he knew who would PTI field as its candidate for the post of chief minister, Pervaiz said that it was an internal matter of the party, however, PML-Q wanted PTI’s chief minister to succeed.