LAHORE - Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to name his brother Shehbaz Sharif as next PML-N president in tomorrow’s meeting of party’s Central Working Committee (CWC).

Party sources said the decision was taken at a meeting of the duo on Sunday at Raiwind where they also discussed a host of other issues.

Ruling party leader Zaeem Qadri confirmed the selection of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the new PML-N chief in a Waqt News program.

PML-N’s CWC is meeting in Lahore on Tuesday to elect its Acting President, initially for a period of 40 days.

But well-placed sources in party confided to The Nation that whosoever is elected as Acting President, will retain this position in future also.

“The same person (as elected interim president) is most likely to be elected as the (permanent) president in the meeting of the General Council (the electoral-college for election of party president) to be held in a month’s time,” a party source said.

Earlier, the name of senior party leader Sardar Yaqoob Nasir was being tipped as the Acting President of the party for the interim period. Mr Yaqoob has already served in this position after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court.

Earlier when contacted, Senator Pervaiz Rashid – a close-aide of Nawaz – declined to confirm any name for the office of party’s Acting President, saying it was the prerogative of the CWC to decide. Rashid was also tight-lipped when asked about the name of the president to be elected later on by the General Council.

“Let the General Council meet in a month or so and see whom it elects as the president.” he said.

Under the party constitution, CWC is required to elect an acting president within seven days of the removal of a party head and a regular president within 45 days.

Pervaiz Rashid, however, confirmed that Tuesday’s meeting of party’s CWC will also decide about the date of meeting of the General Council for election of the president – who will lead the party in the next general elections.

Though majority of the PML-N leaders supported the candidacy of Shehbaz as party head, a section of opinion from within the PML-N holds the view that he may not be able to take forward the anti-judiciary narrative build by the elder Sharif due to his conciliatory approach towards the judiciary and the establishment. Still, Shehbaz remains the most favorite candidate for the key party slot.

PML-N’s hierarchy earlier had also considered the names of Begum Kalsoom Nawaz and Raja Zafarul Haq for the top post.

A few among the party ranks think that someone out of the Sharif family would be more suited to lead the party in the prevailing situation. Party men supporting this view believe that current confrontation with the state institutions will not serve the party interests in the coming elections.

The Sharif brothers at their meeting also discussed at length the recent arrest of senior bureaucrat Ahad Cheema by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the subsequent unrest in the bureaucracy, according to the sources - who refused to divulge details on this issue.