ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership under the chair of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could not fully accomplish the task of finalising the party candidates for the slots of mayors, deputy mayors and the consultations would continue in this regard.
Sources in the party confirmed to The Nation that in certain cases sharp divisions in the party’s district and provincial cadres led to the delay in the process and the prime minister had directed the provincial leadership of the party to iron out the differences.
Addressing the participants of the meeting, the prime minister once again reiterated his party’s resolve to devolve maximum powers to local bodies as he would consider it a forum to swiftly address the problems of the masses at the grass-root level. The districts where the party leadership come up with consensus candidates for the slots of mayors, deputy mayors and chairmen of district councils included Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Gujrat and a few other districts.
A source in the party informed The Nation that the party needed to accomplish the task by tomorrow as the date for filing of nomination papers against these slots was December 8 and 9. The party would come up with formal announcement of the party’s candidates by tomorrow evening, he added.
For the slot of Mayor Rawalpindi the name of Sardar Naseem was finalised. Similarly, for the position of chairmen District Council Rawalpindi the name could not be finalised and the party leaders would pick the person from among three to four possible contenders today.
The slot of Chairman District Council Gujrat would be doled out to Haji Nasir brother of sitting MNA from the area Abid Raza.
As the party was sharply divided in Faisalabad the party leaders under Hamza Shahbaz Sharif would be meeting today in Lahore to help resolve the tussle between the groups of State Minister Abid Sher Ali and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.
Both the groups carry differences to the level of animosity and have been pulling the strings to get their man on the mayoral slot of the city.
From Chakwal the party ticket would be given to Zahoor Awan, while for the position of mayor in Lahore would be given to Col (retd) Mubashir.