May 12, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 6, 1429

LAHORE, May 11: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani went on a political offensive on Sunday and held meetings with Najaf Sial, a leader of the PML-Q forward bloc, and Mian Manzoor Hussain Watto, another PML-Q dissident to the hold of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat on the party.

The meetings assumed more significance against the backdrop of a possible collapse of the coalition government of the PML-N and PPP at the centre and the PPP needing strength to instal its own government in Punjab.

Mr Najaf Sial, who claims to have the support of 40 MPAs of Punjab, has suddenly gained importance. His group, which had recently been pledging support to the PML-N, has started claiming that his group would start weighing its options if the PPP quit the provincial government and the PML-N government fell in Punjab.

The meeting strengthened rumours doing the rounds here that the PPP was on the political offensive, foreseeing a split between it and the PML-N over the issue of judges’ reinstatement.

The PM’s declaration in his meeting with Mr Wattoo that he would spend two days in Lahore lent credence to the rumours.

Alhough both Mr Wattoo and Najaf Sial have termed their meetings with the prime minister ‘courtesy calls, refreshing decades-old relations’, Mr Sial did not mince words and said: “We have always been saying that the PPP-PML-N alliance was not natural. Now that the PML-N is about to part ways with the PPP at the centre, the Punjab government is also likely to face tough times. The forward bloc has a right and, definitely, it will reconsider its strategy in the context of its numerical importance.”

He said the group had called a meeting on May 13 to chalk out its strategy, adding: “But the Sunday’s meeting was a courtesy call. My family has 30-year-old relations with the Gilanis and I went to pay my regards. We just had a cup of tea and exchanged pleasantries.”

Mr Wattoo also termed it a ‘routine meeting of parliamentarians with the prime minister and we discussed every current issue’.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Wattoo said that Mr Gilani was very keen on meeting his 100-day target and he was fully capable of achieving them, adding that the prime minister was aware of ground realities and had plans to spend two days in his Lahore home every week.

A PML-N source, while commenting on the fast-changing political scenario, said: “It (the PML-N) is watching every move by everyone but the party will choose its own time for any action. Things are now getting pretty much clear. It is certainly regrettable the way PPP has jumped to the conclusion on its own and started acting on the basis of that conclusion.”