September 19, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 18, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 18: The PML-N awaits President Asif Zardari’s address to the joint session of parliament tomorrow (Saturday) before deciding its future course of action viz-a-viz the Punjab politics.

“We are waiting to see what does Mr Zardari say about the 17th constitutional amendment, especially its clause related to the bar on two-time prime minister to run for a third term for the office,” a senior PML-N leader told Dawn by phone from Islamabad.

“Any refusal to give us relief on this account will mean pushing us to the wall.”The official said the refusal would make it easy for his party to decide whether or not to show the door to the PPP ministers in the Punjab cabinet. The action was likely soon after Eid, he added.

Answering a question, he said the PML-N could have relinquished the charge of the province and resigned to opposition benches had it no apprehensions that the PPP would indulge in activities of denting the party by carving out a forward bloc in it.

“The apprehensions are forcing us to give a tough fight and be ‘martyred’ instead of surrendering to the rivals.”

Meanwhile, a number of Q-League dissident group members are finding themselves between the devil and the deep sea. Uncertain about who would be the winner in the tug of war between the estranged allies, the PML-N and the PPP, they are avoiding to take sides. None of them is directly taking phones. Ahmad Khan Baloch, Iftikhar Gillani and a couple of others were seen shuttling between the Raiwind and Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi Palaces on Wednesday, trying to keep both the sides, the PML-N and the PML-Q, happy as the latter is said to be moving towards the PPP.

In a war of survival, the Chaudhrys of Gujrat are making last ditch efforts to win back forward bloc members and deprive the PML-N of a simple majority in the Punjab Assembly when the PPP eventually withdraws its support to the provincial government.

Their efforts paid when some of the dissidents came back into the party folds, though the PML-N alleges that the PML-Q leadership was helped by the Governor’s House.

As a counter measure, the PML-N is offering these MPAs development funds and a say in appointments of officials of their choosing in their respective constituencies. Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif is also in touch with them on a daily basis to keep their spirits high.

Former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who recently resigned as opposition leader in the National Assembly, successfully staged his comeback by attracting 51 out of 84 PML-Q MPAs in the Wednesday Iftar.

It is a major success considering that the party candidate, Mushahid Husain Sayed, had polled just 36 votes from the house in the presidential election on Sept 6.

The “home-comers” included MPA from Jhang and founder of the forward bloc, Najaf Abbas Sial, who reportedly had a change of heart when the PML-N doubted his loyalty and did not oblige him in local postings and transfers.