MULTAN, Jan 12: Not regretting his earlier resolve to get former president Pervez Musharraf re-elected in uniform for ‘ten more tenures’, PML-Q leader and Punjab’s former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said whether to support a future dictator or not was a question which his party would decide ‘when the time will come’.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday at the local press club, he ruled out unification of Q and N factions of PML, saying his party would keep its independent identity, however, ‘the doors were open for dialogue with all the political parties in the larger national interest’.

He said his party would not play a role in destabilisation of any provincial or federal government. Federal as well as provincial governments should complete their respective tenures, he reiterated.

Rejecting the allegation that the previous government failed to add even a single megawatt to electricity generation, he claimed the last government added 4,000 megawatts to the national grid.

On the meeting between PML-Q leader Saleem Saifullah and Nawaz Sharif, he said the former met PML-N chief in his personal capacity. He said PML-Q was a democratic party and Hamid Nasir Chatta and Saleem Saifullah had the right to express their opinion on any issue.

He said his party had nothing to do with the conflict between the PML-N and PPP and both parties should resolve issues gracefully.

Mr Elahi said the assassination of Benazir Bhutto had damaged the PPP.

He said there was a need to study the 17th amendment because it had given the right of dual vote to the minorities, reduced the voters’ age to 18 years, increased the numbers of seat in national, provincial assemblies and senate, besides bringing a larger number of women in the assemblies.

He said his party was not in favour of midterm elections and wanted the government to complete its tenure. But, the coalition government should fulfill all promises it made to the nation, he added.

Alleging that plaques on various roads and bridges carrying his name were being removed, he said the rulers wanted to get credit for the projects launched by the former government.

He criticised Punjab chief minister for not announcing even a single project for Multan. He pledged that he would build country’s largest cancer hospital in Multan if he again came to power.

Multan District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar, Lodhran District Nazim Abdul Rehman Kanju, Bahawalpur Nazim Tariq Bashir Chema, Senator Javed Ali Shah, and others were also present.