ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) President Ch Shujaat Hussain would be meeting President Asif Ali Zardari in next couple of days, ostensibly to thrash out fast cropping up differences between the two coalition partners vis-à-vis their clash of interests in Punjab, considered to be the decisive battleground for the upcoming general elections.
Sources aware of behind the scene developments and tug of war between the second and third tier leadership of both PPP and PML-Q in the Punjab informed TheNation that the move was aimed at easing down the simmering tension between the two parties in Punjab and to find some common ground to amicably resolve the thorny issues between the two sides vis-à-vis Punjab.
Sources in PML-Q said that the Cahudhries from Gujrat were expecting freehand in Punjab in the upcoming elections but appointment of shrewd politician Mian Manzoor Wattoo as PPP Central Punjab President had poured water on their (Chaudhries) hopes.
The Chaudhries got further annoyed over some moves of Wattoo when he attempted to woo some of the strong groups and clans associated with PML-Q in PPP and they had lodged strong protest with President Zardari who had promised Chaudhries to go hand-in-hand with them in next general elections and beyond.
Such moves on part of the PPP have apparently jeopardised the coalition agreement between the two parties wherein President Zardari had pledged to give them the seats on which the PML-Q members had won the last general elections and even those seats in Punjab were also promised to PML-Q from where their candidates were runners up in the 2008 general elections.
The PML-Q leadership is unnerved over the way the electables are slipping out of their hands and more disturbing factor for PML-Q is the wavering of PPP leadership from its earlier pledges and for that matter they wanted a renewed pledge from President Asif Ali Zardari on it.
The upcoming meeting of the Chaudhries with President Zardari would mainly focus on securing renewed pledge from latter on fulfilment of the coalition agreement between the two parties.
PML-Q would definitely put up fresh demand of seeking complete control over the election campaign, especially in Central Punjab, in the upcoming meeting with PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and would try to convince him that the present arrangements made by PPP in Punjab had miserably failed to make any impact in the recently held by-polls in the province wherein the PPP-PML-Q joint candidates had badly failed.
Sources further said that PML-Q leadership has gotten a very strong point against Mian Manzoor Wattoo in shape of his failure to make any impact in the by-polls and would surely demand from PPP free hand in Punjab to show better results in the upcoming elections.