ISLAMABAD, May 24: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has decided to nominate president People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Makhdoom Amin Fahim as its candidate for opposition leader in the National Assembly, sources told Dawn on Saturday.

Veteran politician and chief of the alliance Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan had announced formation of the ARD parliamentary group in a meeting of the heads of all component parties at the PPP secretariat here on May 19.

In the meeting, the inside sources said, it was decided that the offices of the leader of the parliamentary group and the opposition leader would not be held by one person. For this purpose, the participants of the meeting were agreed to the suggestion that acting president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N Makhdoom Javed Hashmi would be made leader of the ARD parliamentary group and PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be a candidate for the opposition leader.

At that time, when Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan was asked as to who would be the parliamentary party leader of the group, he said that it would be decided by the MNAs themselves. However, when contacted, the PML-N acting president, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, said the ARD would have to nominate any person for the leader of the parliamentary party and then the MNAs would be asked to support that nominee.

Mr Hashmi confirmed that he had been asked to head the new ARD parliamentary party group, but said that he had not given his consent yet.

The ARD parliamentary group was formed on the day when the 11-member government-opposition committee submitted its final recommendations to Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain.

After disclosure of the recommendations by the MMA and the PML-N, it is evident that the differences between the MMA and ARD parties are growing.

Moreover, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s meeting with Maulana Fazlur Rahman soon after receiving recommendations on the LFO from the NA speaker on Friday, shows that the government is only concentrating on the MMA to gain its support on the contentious points in the LFO.

Though both the MMA and the ARD claim that their first priority is the settlement of the LFO issue, and not the opposition leader, both of them are eying the slot.