TOBA TEK SINGH, Aug 24: Former district nazim Chaudhry Ashfaq has not given up his efforts to get ruling party support despite chief minister’s announcement that ex-MNA Abdul Sattar is the PML nominee for district nazim.

Ashfaq group sources claimed on Wednesday that during a meeting with local MNA Farhan Latif, a nephew of Chaudhry Ashfaq, in Islamabad on Monday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had assured him that the decision would be reconsidered after Thursday polls.

However, United Front head and Punjab Forest Minister Dr Ashfaqur Rehman claimed that a propaganda by the Ashfaq group regarding an “assurance” by the prime minister for reconsidering support to Abdul Sattar was a conspiracy to damage the party.

He said the chief minister had consulted the prime minister and party chief Shujaat Husain before announcing support for Mr Sattar. He also held a meeting with district MNAs and MPAs belonging to the PML in Lahore where a majority of them opposed the candidature of Chaudhry Ashfaq.

Chaudhry Sattar told this correspondent that there were corruption charges against Mr Ashfaq. There were also complaints against him that during his four-year tenure, he ignored party workers and parliamentarians, got registered cases against more than 150 men of MNA Riaz Fatyana, obliged the activists of an opposition party and gave importance to former information minister Khalid Kharal of the PPP instead of party leaders.

Meanwhile, former interior secretary and PPP’s defeated ticket holder for the National Assembly from Toba Hafeezullah Ishaq also joined the United Front candidates’ election campaign on Tuesday and also addressed some corner meetings.

Meanwhile, the Sattar group claimed that they would win majority of the union council nazim, naib nazim and councillor seats in Toba tehsil.

At a press conference held at the residence of Abdul Sattar, group leaders Dr Ashfaqur Rehman, former PPP MPA Mohammad Rafiq, former PML MPA Masood Khan Gadhi, PPP leader Hafeezullah Ishaq, district PPP secretary Chaudhry Saeed Akhtar, former Punjab Bar Council member Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad, MMA district president Dr Zahid Sattar and PML-N district president Amjad Ali Javed said their group had a one-point agenda to defeat the Ashfaq group.