PESHAWAR, Feb 29: The Awami National Party and the Pakistan People’s Party, two main winners in the elections, have decided to form a small, but effective provincial cabinet which should serve the province and its people in a better way.

According to reliable sources, the two parties would have an equal number of ministers in the 14-member cabinet. Being the major partner, an ANP man will be in the driving seat and a PPP nominee will work as senior minister. Similarly, the slot of PA speaker will go to the PPP and the deputy speaker will be from the ANP.

A former NWFP assembly speaker and experienced parliamentarian, Abdul Akbar Khan, who had won a national (NA-11) and a provincial assembly seat (PF-29) from Mardan, is aspiring for the coveted slot of the speaker, but the PPP badly needs him at the centre. If Abdul Akbar is sent to Islamabad, the PPP will nominate either Syed Zahir Ali Shah, president of the Peshawar PPP, or Humayun Khan, whose father had served as the NWFP speaker from 1975 to 1977. Mr Humayun, an engineer by profession, was the Malakand nazim after the 2001 local government elections.

If Abdul Akbar vacates his National Assembly seat, it will be difficult for the party to win it in the by-election. If he surrenders his PA seat, it will make no difference for the party. “The PPP does not want to lose a single National Assembly seat. We want a stable coalition at the centre so that true and sustainable democracy can be restored in the country,” said a former PPP lawmaker.

Provincial PPP chief Rahimdad Khan is believed to be made the senior minister in the coalition government, but a lobby inside the party is employing all its resources to stop him from entering the assembly. Malik Mohammad Riaz, a former Bannu PPP president, had accused him (Rahimdad) of carrying a fake degree. Two days ago, at a press conference, Mr Riaz claimed that if his (Rahimdad) degree was proved fake, it would push the party into another crisis.

On the other hand, Mr Rahimdad says he has expelled Malik Riaz from the PPP for siding with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam in Bannu. He claims that this time again Malik Riaz and his family supported and voted for JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Akram Khan Durrani. He says Malik Riaz has nothing to do with the PPP; he is an activist of Mr Durrani in Bannu.

Abdul Akbar says the provincial president cannot be appointed as parliamentary leader in the assembly because it can affect performance of the party. Mr Rahimdad thinks otherwise; he terms all this a propaganda campaign against him. “We have been fighting for restoration of democracy and rule of the law in the country. Such petty things do not suit us being a major political force of the country,” he told Dawn.

The ANP, which has finally announced the name of the future chief minister, is also faced with similar minor infightings. “It will be a real test for the PPP and the ANP, whether politics prevails or personalities or old enmities dominate the scene,” said Abdul Jalil Jan of the JUI-F.