ISLAMABAD – The PML-Q unification bloc in Punjab is divided on whether to support the PML-N in case the party loses majority in the provincial assembly if its partnership with the PPP ends.
While one group in the unification bloc is suggesting the PML-N sit on opposition benches and let the PPP and the PML-Q form a government, the other group has extended its full support to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in case the PPP is out of the coalition.
A source in the unification bloc told Pakistan Today that some leaders of the unification bloc, along with their associates, were all set to give vote of confidence to Chief Minister Shahbaz if the PML-N ousted PPP from the coalition government.
The parliamentary leader of the PML-Q unification bloc in Punjab, Dr Tahir Ali Javed, said he and his aides had advised the PML-N to sit on opposition benches in the province and give PPP the opportunity to form its coalition government.
He said the PML-N should not create hurdles in the way of the PPP to form its government in Punjab with the PML-Q. “By doing so, the PML-N can clean sweep the next elections in the province, as the masses will see the performance of the PPP in the centre as well as in Punjab,” he said, negating the perception that the unification bloc now wanted to strike a power-sharing deal with the PPP or Chaudhrys-led PML-Q.
Asked how the PPP could form its government in Punjab by forging an alliance with the PML-Q when a number of the PML-Q dissidents were backing the PML-N, he said, “If the PML-N decides to sit on opposition benches, the PPP would easily complete its number required to form a coalition government in Punjab.”
He said the unification bloc was being approached by the PPP, PML-N and PML-Q. “Some of the PPP provincial ministers are in constant contact with us,” he said, adding that Chaudhry Zaheerud Din of the PML-Q was also in close contact with the unification bloc.
Meanwhile, Atta Maneka said the unification bloc was again getting importance due to the law of necessity.
