ISLAMABAD, March 17: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday may solicit views of the corps commanders on holding referendum for the continuation of his tenure as president, sources informed Dawn.

Besides the routine revision of the internal and external security situation, the commanders may also discuss the possibilities, modalities and timings of the referendum, they said.

The referendum, if accorded approval by the corps commanders, was scheduled for May as the budget would be announced in June. It could not be held in July either, as only 90 days would be left in the elections to the NA, the sources said.

When contacted for official comment, spokesman for the President, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, neither confirmed nor denied that the issue would be debated. “I have not talked to the President on this issue so far, but there is a lot of speculation about it,” he said.