ISLAMABAD, July 5: President Gen Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to meet ruling Pakistan Muslim League legislators from southern districts of Punjab on Thursday as part of his continuing interaction with the League’s parliamentarians.

The president started this interaction a couple of months ago when some intra-party differences had surfaced in the shape of ‘forward bloc’.

The members of the National Assembly and senators invited to the meeting belong to districts of Rajanpur, Lodhran, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed will accompany the legislators at the meeting being held at Aiwan-i-Sadar at 12 noon.

In previous such meetings, President Musharraf had expressed the desire that Chaudhry Shujaat should be re-elected as the party chief unanimously.

The so-called forward bloc has lost strength after its hardline leaders — Mazhar Qureshi and Farooq Amjad Mir — met the Punjab chief minister and assured him of their loyalty.