LAHORE - Stepping up efforts to win the support of other parties and the independents for formation of the government in Punjab, the PML-N has decided to talk to PPP and the PML-Q.
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq contacted the PML-Q Punjab President Ch Pervaiz Elahi and sought time to meet him personally. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq offered Elahi partnership in the Punjab government. They both are expected to meet in next 24 hours to further talk on the matter.
The PML-N has returned to the Punjab Assembly with 129 seats while it needs 149 members to attain simple majority and appoint party’s chief minister. The PML-Q has seven seats in the Punjab Assembly which it mostly won by seat adjustment with the PTI.
On the other hand, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif met the PPP leader and former Punjab governor Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood. The PML-N president also had telephonic contact with senior member of the PPP Syed Khursheed Shah and they are due to meet in Islamabad today. The PPP has won six Punjab Assembly seats and 43 National Assembly seats. The PML-N, which has bagged 64 seats in the National Assembly, appears willing to talk formation of coalition government with PPP and other parties in the centre as well as in Punjab. Shehbaz and Khursheed Shah will also negotiate on the formation of Opposition in the National Assembly in case they failed to get the required strength of 136 members for appointing their leader of the House in the National Assembly.
The PML-N is also reaching out to the independents to meet the requisite number of seats for setting up its government in Punjab where it had been ruling over the last 10 years under Shehbaz Sharif.
It may be mentioned that the PML-N has already named Shehbaz Sharif as next prime minister of the party and the party can take a bold decision about Punjab if it gets commanding position in the centre, say the sources.
