NOWSHERA, Aug 13: PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari has said that the government has struck a deal with the former chief minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, to counter PPP’s likely victory in the coming elections.

Talking to newsmen at the Attock Fort Accountability Court on Monday, the husband of Ms Bhutto claimed that the government had chalked out a strategy to rig the elections to bring the king’s party into power.

He said that on the directives of Gen Pervez Musharraf, Majeed Nizami, the editor daily Nawa-i-Waqt was sent to Saudi Arabia to finalise a deal between the government and the Sharif family before the polls. “The editor’s visit is part of the plan,” Zardari asserted, saying that the statement of Gen Aslam Baig had weight and it should be taken seriously.—Correspondent