ISLAMABAD, Aug 24: The top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League feels more comfortable with the PML-N than the PPP and is upbeat after the Supreme Court’s judgment which could lead to the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to the country, according to sources in the party.

The acrimony with the PPP is so deep that the PML leadership openly says that it would prefer to see Nawaz Sharif at the helm in case their party fails to do well in the general elections.

The PML leadership feels that the long absence of the Sharif brothers from the country and the ruling party’s own performance in the last few years will give it an edge in the elections. Some PML leaders are trying to convince their leadership to make sure that the division of League votes does not benefit the PPP.

PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, the sources claimed, had recently met Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman to offer him some concessions from the powerful quarters of the establishment for his cooperation.

They asked the Maulana to ensure that at least MMA legislators would not resign along with other opposition parties and also would not recommend dissolution of the NWFP assembly.

And the Maulana, after his announcement at his Quetta news conference that there would be no negotiations with Gen Musharraf he changed his stance in a TV interview by saying, “There was no harm in talking to the government for smooth transition of power”.

The sources claimed that the Maulana had assured the Chaudhrys that he would return with a firm reply to their offer after getting a nod from his party.

Chaudhry Shujaat’s statement that “we are even ready to be led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman” was interpreted by the sources as having offered the Maulana the dream post of the prime minister.

Political pundits attach great significance to this meeting as the Maulana has already expressed his desire to ascend to the country’s chief executive’s office.

Interestingly, the MMA leader had told reporters that it was a ‘routine’ meeting and should not be attached to any political compromise. MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed termed the meeting as an attempt to divide the opposition.

A section in the PML is against any arrangement in which Maulana Fazlur Rahman wins the top slot in the next government as they feel that in such a situation the West’s suspicions about Pakistan’s nuclear assets going in the wrong hands would further be strengthened.

The sources said that the Chaudhrys had sounded to President General Pervez Musharraf either to toughen his stance in the ongoing parleys with PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto so that either she should abandon the deal idea or to agree to the terms that were suitable to the ruling coalition.

As far as the return of Nawaz Sharif was concerned, they expressed their confidence that they can confront him, as they know his strengths and weaknesses. They feel that Nawaz League will not be able to find sufficient candidates on all seats because majority of them had already switched over to the ruling PML.

They say that Nawaz Sharif will not find even few hundred people to welcome him right from Gujranwala to Jhelum to Chakwal leave alone winning of seats in these districts. Moreover, the PML is confident that the nazims will play pivotal role in helping it win more seats.