LAHORE, June 14: A meeting of the ARD is expected to be held next week to discuss the overall situation in the country, coalition's senior vice-president Mansoor Khan said on Monday.

He said the new year's budget, the Wana operation and byelection to various seats would be the major subjects of the discussion at the meeting. He said although the ARD was not an election alliance, efforts were being made to persuade the PPP and the PML-N that they put up joint candidates.

It is said that PML-N leaders Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Pervaiz Malik met PPP leader Qasim Zia on Monday to discuss the possibility of putting up joint candidates. However, the meeting remained inconclusive.

Khwaja Saad also presided over a party meeting on Monday, asking the chief election commissioner to use his authority to prevent the ruling party from pre-poll rigging.

He alleged that state resources were being used to ensure the victory of the ruling party candidates. In a related development, the ruling PML started a campaign for its candidate on PP-156 (Lahore) Shoaib Siddiqui.