MULTAN, May 4: PML-N defector MNA Diwan Jaffer Hussain Bokhari has reposed his full confidence in the prime minister and other top PML-Q leadership that they will honour their commitment to help his brother Diwan Ashiq to become Multan district Nazim.

In a press release issued here on Sunday by the local director public relation office, the MNA denied that he was soon taking oath as a state minister. He said some vested interest were fanning such rumours to ‘achieve their goals’.

He said on Dec 29 last year premier Zafarullah Khan Jamali, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and MNA Nasrullah Khan Dreshak had come to his room No 306 of Federal Lodges in Islamabad.

The MNA further revealed that he had defected his party to join the ruling PML-Q on the persuasion of his younger brother Diwan Ashiq Hussain, on the condition that the younger Diwan would be made district Nazim.

He said only the district Nazim office was the target of his Diwan family of Jalalpur Pirwala and that they would not compromise the slot or any other office including the federal ministry. He said his family had stepped up its efforts for the district top slot and influential political families of the area, MPs and union council Nazims were being approached in this regard.

The MNA said his brother Diwan Ashiq had been the Multan district council chairman in the past and he was the most suitable candidate for the Nazimship owing to his vast administrative experience to run the affairs of the district. “I am hopeful that the top governmental and political personalities will honour their commitment,” he added.

The wheeling-dealing for the top district slot has been geared up in the backdrop that elections for the Zila Nazim post are likely to be held during the current month, even though the election commission has not so far announced any date.

The office has been lying vacant since the resignation of Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Hussain Qureshi in August last year to contest central elections. Multan was the only district in the country whose Nazim had preferred to become legislator.

Apart from the Diwan family, Rana Shaukat Noon of Shujaabad and Pir Riaz Qureshi of Multan are expected to vie for the coveted slot. Noon’s son Rana Ijaz is a PML-Q MPA who reportedly has also shown disinterest in the provincial ministry to keep chances of his father afloat for the Nazimship. Currently, DCO Major Azam Suleman Khan (retired) is working as acting Multan District Nazim.