Following the formation of the PPP-PML-Q alliance, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has sped up efforts to rake in disgruntled PML-Q members by holding meetings with Q-leaguers unhappy with the power deal.
Pakistan Today learnt on Friday that during his tour of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PML-N chief secretly met PML-Q Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief Amir Muqam, former foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan, former finance minister Umer Ayub, as well as Baba Haider Zaman, the founder of the Tehreek-e-Hazara Province.
Sources said these meetings were arranged covertly and Nawaz and Muqam discussed the possibilities of Muqam joining the PML-N. They added that Muqam had given positive signals, but said he would take a final decision after consulting his associates.Sources said during Nawaz’s meeting with Gohar Ayub, a plan of action for the possible return of old associates in the PML-N was taken up, while Nawaz’s support for Hazara province also came under discussion.
The PML-N chief offered them to fight for the Hazara province from the PML-N platform. A meeting between Baba Haider Zaman and Nawaz was arranged during the PML-N chief’s visit to Mansehra, the sources said. Nawaz extended Zaman full support for the struggle for Hazara province and told Baba Zaman that he would be the PML-N candidate from Abbottabad constituency in the next general election.
The PML-N, which will be the major beneficiary of the PML-Q disintegration, is mulling ways for uniting the PML-Q Likeminded and Unification Bloc in Punjab to counter the political moves of the PPP-PML-Q alliance.Political pundits claim that the PML-N has also established contacts with former foreign minister and PPP central leader Shah Meahmood Qureshi to form a forward bloc in the PPP by uniting workers annoyed with party’s alliance with the PML-Q.
