ISLAMABAD, March 14: Pakistan People’s Party’s senior vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim met Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman here on Friday.

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament Lodges after the meeting, Mr Fahim denied reports that he was forming a forward bloc in the PPP.

“It is an allegation,” he said, adding that he did not want a split in the party. His desire, he said, was to see it remaining strong and united.

However, he said, it was the responsibility of all the top leaders to keep the PPP united.

He said his meeting with Maulana Fazl was ‘apolitical’ and he had a personal relationship with the JUI-F chief.

“We have been meeting in the past. We did not discuss the issue of the nomination of a candidate for the prime minister’s post,” he said.

Sources said Mr Fahim also wanted to meet Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan but the latter “excused himself because of his busy schedule”.

Replying to a question, Mr Fahim said it would be wrong to say that the ANP chief had refused to meet him. He said the meeting with the ANP leader had not been scheduled.

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that in his meeting with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday night, Mr Fahim had refused to withdraw from the race for the office of the prime minister on the request of Mr Zardari.

They said Mr Fahim told Mr Zardari that he would withdraw from the race only if Mr Zardari himself wanted to become the prime minister. He was not ready to accept any other person’s nomination, they said.

When Maulana Fazl was asked if he would support Mr Fahim’s nomination as a candidate for the prime minister’s post, he said: “We have always considered Makhdoom Sahib as the prime minister but there are some issues within his party and I have no right to comment on it.” He said he wanted to see the PPP remaining a united party.

When contacted, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said there was no bar on members of the party meeting any political leader, particularly of the coalition partners. He said there was nothing unusual in Mr Fahim’s meeting with Maulana Fazl.