The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership is ready to give the hitherto non-existent office of deputy prime minister to the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML Q) in the power-sharing deal likely to be inked between the two parties early next week. In addition to the office of deputy prime minister – which the PPP leadership was initially reluctant to offer the PML-Q and proposed the office of a senior minister with similar powers instead – five federal and five state ministries will also fall in the lap of the top PML-Q leadership.
According to sources, all legal and administrative requirements will be completed to make Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi deputy prime minister, with a clear and written mandate to supervise all the ministries given to the PML-Q in any power-sharing arrangement. The PML-Q would get one adviser-ship as well, sources revealed. The adviser was most likely to be attached with the deputy prime minister, and his future role would depend upon which ministries the PML-Q gets in the final outcome, said the sources.
In the most surprising development, Faisal Saleh Hayat, once an ardent critic of any such deal between the PPP and PML-Q, is all set to become federal minister. He met President Asif Ali Zardari along with Chaudhry Shujaat on Friday, showing that both leaders are fully prepared to leave behind what happened in the past, and their meeting also provides ample testimony that Hayat is in total agreement with the PML-Q leadership.
Raja Basharat, who is closely associated with the Chaudhrys and enjoys an impeccable reputation in political circles, is likely to get the adviser-ship. Sources also revealed that while there was a broad agreement between the two parties, it had not been finalised yet which ministries would go to the PML-Q. Initially, the PPP offered the PML-Q leadership the ministries that had been vacant. However, reportedly after initial talks between the two sides on Thursday in Islamabad, President Zardari is now open to the idea of reshuffling the portfolios of incumbent ministers to accommodate PML-Q leaders.
The president reportedly said yes to the PML-Q’s demand that the PPP hand over the whole economic and power sector, as Shujaat and Hayat told Zardari that the PML-Q wanted to join the government to deliver, which was only possible with control over these sectors. “The PML-Q leaders demanded the portfolios of the ministries of finance and economic affairs, water and power, petroleum and natural resources, commerce, and communication,” sources told Pakistan Today in Islamabad.
“The PML-Q leaders told Zardari that after assuming charge of the ministries related to economy, power and energy, the party would give a specific timeframe to the people to resolve their issues, and after that time they could be held accountable by the nation,” said the sources, adding that both sides also discussed electoral seat adjustment for upcoming general elections in Azad Kashmir. The leaders of both parties will sign a written agreement, setting the stage for the PML-Q to finally join the PPP in the federal cabinet. “Things are moving forward with a positive mindset on both sides,” he added, while sharing the thoughts of PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi.
The agreement will include a national agenda, which both parties will be bound to implement. The sources said that the PML-Q leaders also told Zardari to take steps to remove concerns and complaints of the MQM and JUI-F as the PML-Q did not want to leave them out of the coalition government. However, in a late-night development, Shujaat failed to convince the MQM to join the federal cabinet as party leader Farooq Sattar told Shujaat his party would not consider it until the government took practical steps to address its concerns, said a source.
Shujaat told Sattar that Zardari had assured him that he would remove the MQM’s reservations on a priority basis, said the source. Meanwhile at a reception held at the BHC, when Zardari was asked about the PPP-PML-Q power-sharing deal, he told reporters to “ask the PM about it”.
