February 26, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 18, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 25: The PPP might consider giving the PML-Q representation in the proposed coalition government if the elected legislators of the party changed their top leadership and formed a forward bloc, a senior PPP leader said on Monday.

Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, who had defeated PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Husain on a National Assembly seat from Gujrat, told Dawn that his party wanted governments of national consensus at the centre and in the four provinces. But, he said, a different yardstick was being proposed for the PML-Q since it had caused damage to the PPP over the past five years.

He said that members of the PML-Q forward bloc could be accommodated in the government.

PML-Q Punjab president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, meanwhile, warned on Monday that legislators who changed their loyalty would lose their seats under the anti-defection law.

But Mr Mukhtar said that the day was not far away when only Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Chaudhry Wajahat Husain would be left with the PML-Q and all others would quit the party.

He said that Gen (retd) Musharraf had tried to break up the PPP by carving out a group of its 20 MNAs after the 2002 elections. The bid failed and the party still had a large number of legislators.

But, he said, the PML-Q would not survive the PPP’s counter-attack. Mr Mukhtar said people had voted against the system installed by President Musharraf by rejecting the PML-Q.

He recalled that Gen Musharraf had consistently been claiming that the PML-Q which he had cobbled together some six years back was the most popular party in the country, especially in rural areas. But, he said, the election results had belied his claims.

He said the PML-Q could bag only 15 NA seats from rural areas and that too because of massive rigging. Had there been no rigging, the PML-Q would not have got more than five seats, said the former minister for commerce.

He saluted the people of the country for rejecting the PML-Q.