LAHORE: The tug of war between arch-rivals Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) over formation of a government in the all-important Punjab province seems to be reaching its logical conclusion as the Pakistan Muslim League-Q has decided to support the Imran Khan-led party both at the Centre and in Punjab.

A PML-Q leader has claimed that his party’s leadership has said ‘no’ to the PML-N though the latter had offered them offices of their choice in Punjab.

After the July 25 vote, the PML-N has emerged as the single-largest party in the Punjab Assembly with 129 seats, while the PTI has a tally of 123. The PML-Q has eight MPAs after the joining of an independent member while the PPP has six. There are 28 independents.

For a simple majority, one needs the support of at least 149 MPAs out of the 297 general members to form government in the population-wise largest province of the country.

The PML-N claims support of nine independent candidates but isn’t making their names public. Its efforts to woo the PPP and PML-Q are proving to be futile.

It had assigned National Assembly former speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq the task of persuading the ‘Q’ leadership to support ‘N’ in the race for the chief minister’s office.

A Q-League leader told Dawn that in accordance with the consensus in the party they had decided to go with the PTI both at the centre and in Punjab, rejecting the PML-N offers of taking the most prized office.

The PPP is not giving any clear signal about any possible support to the Sharifs. “We’ll sit on opposition benches,” says its Punjab leader Osman Malik, averting a direct reply to the query whether the party will support the PML-N or not.

The PTI leadership claims it is closing in on its goal of 149 seats in the Punjab Assembly. It has so far mustered the support of 10 independents, taking its tally to 133 — four more than the PML-N’s total. Four independents joined the party on Saturday and six others on Sunday.

In an interesting development, Salman Naeem, who had defeated PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi as an independent candidate from PP-217 (Multan-VII), joined the party after calling on Imran Khan. PTI’s senior leader Jahangir Khan Tareen was present at the meeting.

Two other independents — Pir Syed Saeedul Hassan from PP-46 (Narowal-I) and Raja Sagheer from PP-7 (Rawalpindi-II) — joined the PTI caravan later in the day.

Mr Tareen has also won over three more independents — Abdul Hai Dasti from PP-270 (Muzaffargarh-III), Malik Umer Farooq from PP-106 (Faisalabad-X) and Ajmal Cheema from PP-97 (Faisalabad-I). These three independents are supposed to announce their decision of joining the PTI after a meeting with the party chief at Banigala.

Expecting to rope in 10 more independents in the next two days and with the support of PML-Q’s eight seats, the PTI leaders are tweeting “Game over for PML-N”.

Chief minister

Gravely busy in mustering the support of independents and like-minded parties, the PTI in the meanwhile has not yet forged a consensus over a candidate for the office of chief minister. Speculations are on and different groups are expressing their opinions about the likely choice.

PTI chairman’s spokesperson Naeemul Haq told media personnel that the party would announce its candidate for the chief minister’s job on Monday (today).

Rejecting media speculations, he said the chief minister would be from the party. Answering a question whether Aleem Khan was the party’s candidate, Mr Haq said Mr Khan was a CM candidate from day one. “The consultations are on and only Imran Khan will decide the candidate for the coveted slot,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2018