LAHORE: As the scions of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat have made to parliament, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) is likely to seek another ministry in the federal government.

In the by-polls held on Sunday, Moonis Elahi (son of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi) and Salik Hussain (son of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain) won from Gujrat (NA-69) and Chakwal (NA-65) with a margin of more than 50,000 and 65,000 votes, respectively.

They have joined their third cousin Hussain Elahi (son of Wajahat Hussain) in parliament. Mr Hussain is the youngest parliamentarian in the National Assembly.

The PML-Q now has five seats in the National Assembly. The party’s Tariq Bashir Cheema is in the federal housing ministry. Now after winning two NA seats, the PML-Q may lay claim to another ministry at the Centre. “We are a coalition partner of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government and after bagging two more NA seats, we expect to have another ministry at the Centre. We will talk to the PTI leadership in this regard as both coalition partners had also worked out modalities earlier without any problem,” PML-Q central information secretary former senator Kamil Ali Agha told Dawn on Monday.

Since Mr Moonis, who has been in politics for many years and also remained a member of the Punjab Assembly twice, is expected to lead his cousins and will be the ultimate choice of the party for the ministry if the coalition partners reach an understanding.

Mr Salik and Mr Hussain contested for the first time in the 2018 general elections and won. Both Chaudhry Shujaat and Wajahad Hussain had earlier decided to contest on Chakwal and Gujrat seats, respectively, (in by-polls and general elections), but later withdrew, announcing it was time that their young ones should come forward (in politics).

“The Chaudhry brothers have decided to field their young ones in the political arena and take the party forward. As all three young cousins are educated and energetic, the party pins great hope in them to work for betterment of the country and strengthening the party,” Mr Agha said.

The former senator claimed that a good number of PML-N members would join the PML-Q in coming days. “Our complete focus is on re-organisation of the party and the response we are getting from the people across the country is very encouraging,” he said, adding that the Chaudhrys would visit different districts, especially in Punjab, in this respect.

The PML-Q has 10 seats in the Punjab Assembly and it has been given the speaker’s slot by the PTI. The PTI leadership reportedly has asked the Chaudhrys to create a ‘silent forward-bloc’ in the opposition PML-N to keep it unsettled.

In the last three parliamentary polls, more than a dozen PML-N lawmakers violated the party policy in the Senate, speaker and presidential elections, either giving votes to the PTI-PMLQ candidates or discarded their votes. The PML-N leadership preferred not to identify the suspects and initiate action against them.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018