LAHORE - Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz has said that PPP was hopeful that all disgruntled MPAs who have threatened to form forward bloc would remain loyal to the party. Speaking in TheNation forum on Wednesday, he said that party was in contact with the angry legislators and had asked them to inform the leadership if they were standing with Shah Mahmood or with the party. It is hoped that they will prefer party to the outgoing PPP MNA (Shah Mahmood), he said. While criticising the Shah Mahmood for leaving the party, Raja questioned why he remained part of the PPP government for well over three years knowing that it was corrupt. Had he been given the portfolio of foreign minister for the second time, he would have been all praise for the government at the moment, he said, adding that Shah Mahmoods exist from the party would make no difference. People like Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Farooq Leghari who left the party in the past, lost in oblivion afterwards, he observed. Talking about the upcoming Faisalabad rally of the PML-N, Raja said that it would be nothing more than a show of patwaris and wasa employees. Replying to a question about giving MFN status to India, he said that Pakistan will enhance bilateral trade with India without making any compromise on Kashmir issue. Kashmir is our jugular vein and Kashmiris must be given their right to self-determination, he said.