MULTAN, Sept 29: PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has denied that any meeting of the heads of component parties of the ARD was held in Multan on Sunday, and that they had elected Makhdoom Amin Faheem as the successor of the late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan.

Talking to reporters at the Khangarh residence of the late leader after quran khwani, he said there was no tug-of-war over the chairmanship of the ARD among the component parties. However, he said a decision in this regard had yet to be taken.

He said Makhdoom Amin Faheem would be the acting chief of the alliance for being its vice-chairman. He said a meeting of the ARD would be called within a week to take a consensus decision in this regard.

He said the next ARD chief might be either Nawaz Sharif or Benazir Bhutto. “It can also be Amin Faheem or someone from our side,” he added.

PPP’s central deputy secretary-general Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi also endorsed the views of Makhdoom Hashmi and alleged that some elements wanted to create a rift among ARD component parties by speculating as to who would lead the alliance.

He said the matter would be resolved amicably because both the parties were firm in their resolve to continue a joint struggle for the cause of democracy.

“No conspiracy will work against the alliance,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, ARD’s provincial deputy secretary information Khwaja Muhammad Rizwan has described the speculation over the future leadership of the ARD as malicious.

He alleged that the premature debate on the issue seemed to be an act of official propaganda machinery.

In a press statement, he said no one was so far elected to the office which fell vacant after the sad demise of Nawabzada Nasrullah.

“Nor any of the component parties has formally shown interest in the vacant office,” he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people participated in the ‘quran khwani’ organized at the ancestral residence of the late leader. Prominent among the mourners were Millat Party chief Sardar Farooq Leghari, Javed Hashmi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Sardar Irfanullah Khan Khosa.

Later on, federal interior minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat also visited Khangarh to condole with the family of the veteran leader.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association, Multan bench, observed a complete strike on Monday to mourn the death.