HYDERABAD, Dec 8: Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said the Sindh finance minister is preparing the case of Sindh for the National Finance Commission award which will be taken up with the prime minister.

He said the prime minister himself was interested in holding a meeting on the issue. The chief minister said it was because of Sindh's stand that new formula for the NFC award could not be formed.

He said under the rules, if one province did not agree to the NFC formula, the award could not be passed. He said other provinces had also complained that they had borne losses due to the present NFC formula of revenue distribution.

He was responding to journalists' questions after attending a sermon by Maulana Tariq Jamil at the Eid Gah, municipal zoo, here on Wednesday. Dr Rahim had organized the sermon for district and provincial government officers.

Answering a question about resignation of a private member in the NFC from Sindh, Abdul Kareem Lodhi, the chief minister said Mr Lodhi was an honest man and it would be more beneficial for the province if he remained the member. He said he would request Mr Lodhi to withdraw his resignation.

When asked whether he favoured distribution of revenue on the basis of resources or population, he said a formula based on multiple factors was being talked about so that percentage of each and everything was counted.

He told the journalists that no meeting on the NFC award had been held after he had taken over as the chief minister it was his predecessor when Sindh had adopted a particular stand on the issue. He said the former chief minister had claimed that if Sindh agreed to the NFC formula, it would resulted in more monetary losses to the province.

Dr Rahim said he had asked Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad to prepare the Sindh case who had sought some time because enormous work regarding calculations and statistics had to be done.

Answering a question as to why he was organizing such religious congregations which were apparently in conflict with President Gen Pervez Musharraf's policies, Dr Rahim said a wrong impression had been created about the president and added that in his recent visits to the Latin America and the UK, the president had strongly pleaded and projected issues of Palestine, occupied Kashmir and the Ummah. He, however, said the president condemned terrorism in all its manifestations.

He informed the journalists that more ministers would be inducted in the Sindh cabinet. He said he had not received the inquiry report on water contamination as yet.

The chief minister said the Sindh government had proposed to the federal government to hold the local bodies' election on non-party basis at local tier and the election for the district nazim on party basis.

Referring to the kidnapping of judges, he said the judges themselves had committed a mistake by moving in the same car without guard and driver and even without informing the administration.

Replying to a question about the revenge culture in Sindh and that Asif Zardari needed protection, he said if Mr Zardari felt danger to his life he could arrange guards on his own.

About the opening of Sindh border with India, the chief minister said the border would be opened after consent of both countries. Earlier, talking to officers he said even a clerk could contact him if anyone used his name for any misdeed. He said he was trying to eradicate corruption in the province.