ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: The chief of his own faction of JUI, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, said on Wednesday that his party would prefer to sit in the opposition, unless he received a serious offer from the coalition partners to join the government.

Talking to newsmen, the Maulana said that although his party wanted to play the role of opposition it would consider joining the government if serious offer was made.

Maulana Fazlur presided over on Wednesday a meeting of the Central Working Committee of his party held to discuss the reasons for the drubbing the MMA got in the elections.

He claimed that the religious parties had not been rejected in the elections and they had polled sufficient number of votes, but a boycott by some parties in the MMA was the main factor behind the electoral setback.

Insiders told Dawn that Maulana Fazl’s policy of appeasement and his pro-Musharraf, pro-establishment and pro-PML-Q role was considered by many in the part as the factor responsible for the defeat.

The Maulana said: “Since we have been given a mandate by our electorate to sit in the opposition we will abide by it.’’

Replying to a question about revival of the MMA, the Maulana said efforts to restore the activities of the alliance were under way.

The JUI chief, who is also the secretary general of the MMA, said Prof Sajid Mir of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith and Allama Sajid Naqvi of Tehrik-i-Islami had met him and discussed ways of reactivating the MMA.