LAHORE, Nov 21: The PML-N leadership is unlikely to take any action against Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan though a strong group within the party is lobbying for it while Governor Salman Taseer has also demanded the same.

The minister had the other day alleged that Governor’s House had become a hub of ‘unwanted’ activities. He had also showed some photographs of such activities to the media. This act was not taken well by party patron Nawaz Sharif and his disapproval was conveyed to the law minister, who was told never to discuss any politician’s family in future. But Nawaz was not ready to go any further on the issue keeping in view Sanaullah’s sacrifices and sincerity for the party, sources said.

Nevertheless, the incident has provided a chance to Sanaullah’s rival group, already working hard to counter his increasing influence in the party, to create an atmosphere in which Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is forced to take some action against him.

The group being spearheaded by some members of the provincial cabinet and PML-N MPs from Faisalabad, also hometown of Sanaullsh, wants that at least his powerful portfolio should be changed.

Being a straightforward person, Sanaullah is not liked by many in the party hierarchy, especially at the provincial level. He even annoyed Shahbaz when the latter, while making an abortive attempt to land in Lahore in May 2004, asked the former how many party activists would be there to receive him at the airport.

And Sanaullah, the then deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, told him that the attendance would not cross the mark of 20,000 though some local leaders had assured Shahbaz that hundreds ofthousands of people wouldturn up to receive him. —Amjad Mahmood