ISLAMABAD, July 8: After the failure of efforts for unification of Pakistan Muslim League factions, power brokers have reportedly been tasked to expand the National Alliance by getting the PML (Quaid-i-Azam) and some influential regional political parties on board, sources told Dawn on Sunday.

The government’s anxiety after failure of the efforts for carving out a formidable alliance before the announcement of election schedule is leading to speculations about the consideration of postponement of the polls at least for six months.

Credence to the speculations was given by the induction of five political figures into Sindh cabinet and reports about expansions in other provinces and perhaps in Islamabad as well, sources said.

Sources in the PML(QA), who are still hopeful of success in the unification of the party factions minus Pir Pagaro’s Functional league, have confessed in private gatherings that they were under pressure from the forces known for making and breaking alliances to join the National Alliance.

Sources said that a majority of PML(QA) leaders opposed the proposed constitutional amendments package on the ground that it would turn the governing system into a presidential dictatorship.

The renewed effort, the sources said, had also been prompted by the parting of ways by Pakistan Awami Tehrik and growing popularity of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf.

The Musharraf government has also reportedly taken serious notice of a clear line that has been drawn between the supporters of the constitutional package and those who rejected it.

The National Alliance experience proved to be a fiasco when PML(QA) and PTI refused to joint it and then Tahirul Qadri left it within two months.

The agencies that wanted NA’s composition on the pattern of Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad thus were discouraged badly.

Another anxiety of the Musharraf camp is that the PML(QA) has established contacts with parties like Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), foes of the military regime, for electoral understanding.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, believed to be more radical then other components of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, have impressed upon the PML(QA) leadership to distance itself from the wrongdoings of Musharraf government to qualify for their electoral support, the sources said.