GUJRAT: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid eyes three ministries in the coalition governments in Punjab and Centre -- two ministers in provincial and one in federal cabinets.

Reliable sources in the party told Dawn that both the scions of PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain -- Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Chaudhry Shafay Hussain -- could become the federal and provincial ministers, respectively.

The PML-Q have 10 lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly, including eight directly elected and two on reserved seats for women, whereas it has four members in the national assembly, including three directly elected and one on reserved seats for women.

The party’s negotiations on the formation of federal and provincial governments have been finalised and the party chief has approved to support the coalition governments in center and Punjab, PML-Q MNA-elect Salik Hussain confirmed while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

Salik Hussain, who met PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad a couple of days ago, said his party might be given one ministerial slot in the federal cabinet and two in Punjab.

He said Shafay Hussain could be inducted into the Punjab cabinet in the first phase whereas the name of other member from the Q was yet to be finalised.

Responding to a question, he said the party’s main focus would be the development of Gujrat district where its nominees had won two NA and seven PA seats. He said he would strive to resolve the decades-old issue of sewerage and drainage as well as establishment of a new district headquarters hospital and an information technology center.

PML-Q Secretary General Tariq Basheer Cheema and another nominee Hassan Askari have also been elected as MNA and MPA, respectively, from Bahawalpur district.

A former PTI MNA Tashfeen Safdar Marala from Gujrat who had joined the PML-Q a couple of months ago, has been elected as MPA as a Q nominee for reserved seat for woman whereas another woman, Salma Hashmi, the daughter of Saeed Hashmi, a senator from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), is also elected as an MPA on the Q quota in the Punjab Assembly.

MPA-elect Salma Hashmi is married to a family in Khanewal district of Punjab and lives in Lahore.

Similarly, Farrah Khan, the lone woman MNA of PML-Q in the 2018 National Assembly, has once again been nominated by the party for an NA seat reserved for women from the Q’s quota.

Party sources said that the names of Q MPAs Khalid Asghar Ghural and Hassan Askari were also being considered for the ministerial slots in Punjab by the party leadership but only one of them might get the ministry that too on later stages.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024