MULTAN

The lobbying to win Multan throne has begun and the aspirants for the Mayor and Chairman District Council offices started efforts to convince the PML-N leadership for their nomination, The Nation has learnt.
At least three groups - Ansari, Qureshi and Arrain - want to get their candidate nominated for the Mayor office while Bosan, Dogar, Syed and Dewan Groups are making efforts to bring their Chairman at District Council.
All the groups have established their contacts with the newly elected Chairmen/Vice Chairmen of union councils and efforts are being made to convince them to support their candidate in Mayoral and Chairman District Council run. Party sources said that the aspirants for the Mayor and Chairman District Council offices had also started making different offers in terms of cash, kind and offices to their voters to gather maximum support.
“However, the leadership has made it quite clear to all the aspirants that final decision to nominate the candidates for Mayor and Chairman District Council offices will be made after weighing the strength of their groups, consultation with the party leadership and reports received from agencies,” party sources disclosed.
In Municipal Corporation, the Ansari Group has brought Haji Saeed Ansari, a former MPA, as its candidate for the Mayoral post. He won unopposed from UC-25 in recent local government polls and leads strong Ansari Group. This group is also supported by MPA Rana Mahmoodul Hassan, whose younger brother is City President of the party.
Another aspirant for the same office, Munawar Ehsan Qureshi, has also won unopposed from UC-60 and is candidate of another strong faction of PML-N famous as Qureshi Group. He is son of MPA and former Provincial Minister Haji Ehsan Uddin Qureshi while his group enjoys support from former MNA and city general secretary of PML-N Sheikh Tariq Rasheed.
The Arrain Group is led by former Provincial Minister Ch Abdul Waheed Arrain, who has brought his younger brother Ch. Naveed Arrain as candidate for the Mayor office. His group has won at least 10 union councils in recent election and thus became a very strong candidate for this office.
Another probable for the Mayor office is Ijaz Rajwana, who is nephew of Governor Rafiq Rajwana. Although he is not proposed by any group as its candidate, yet he is being considered a strong candidate for being a kin of the Governor.
For Chairman District Council office, three very strong groups known in local politics as Bosans, Syeds and Dewans are in the run. Another new contestant, who joined the race for the said post, is Zulfiqar Dogar, younger brother of MNA Abdul Ghaffar Dogar.
The Bosans are led by Federal Minister Haji Sikandar Hayat Bosan and they want to get Husnain Bosan nominated as PML-N candidate for the Chairman District Council office.
The Syed Group was formed by MNA Syed Javed Ali Shah and the group has achieved big success in Shujabad town of Multan in recent election. Syed Group has nominated Syed Mujahid Ali Shah, cousin of group leader, as its candidate for the Chairman office. The initial result indicated that he lost the election but he won in recounting.
The Dewan Group is based at Jalalpur Pirwala town of Multan and MNA Dewan Ashiq Bokhari leads it. The Dewans have considerable influence in Jalalpur Pirwala area and they are making efforts to convince the party leadership to nominate their candidate for the Chairman office.
A former MNA from Shujabad town Rana Shaukat Hayat Noon, who is father of MPA Rana Ijaz Noon, is also candidate for the Chairman District Council post.