ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: The component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) have started consultations to nominate a candidate for the election of prime minister, sources told Dawn on Friday.

People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, secretary-general Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan held a discussion on the issue during the session of the National Assembly on Friday.

The sources said the ARD had decided to contest the election of the prime minister and it would not leave the field open for Mr Aziz. They said a meeting of the alliance would be held to nominate the candidate soon after the announcement of the election schedule.

They said PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif were also in contact with the local leadership of the parties on the issue.

They said most probably Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be the ARD candidate for the prime minister, but final decision would be taken after consulting other component parties, particularly the PML-N. It may be mentioned here that the MMA had offered its conditional support to the ARD if it nominated jailed PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi as its candidate.

A source in the PML-N told Dawn that the offer was formally made by MMA leader Liaquat Baloch in a meeting with PML-N Punjab president Khawaja Saad Rafiq on Thursday evening.

Though the MMA after its supreme council meeting on Friday had announced to boycott the elections, it said talks could be held with the ARD if it came out with an 'alternative and practicable proposal'.

The MMA had made the same offer to the ARD at the time of the election of the prime minister after resignation of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in June. However, the PPP rejected the MMA's offer at that time and nominated Makhdoom Amin Fahim as its candidate. Later, the MMA abstained itself from the voting process.

The PPP leaders had termed this offer of the MMA an attempt to create differences within the ranks of the ARD.