LAHORE, Feb 14: As Tuesday was the last day for filing nomination papers for Senate election, the 47-member Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid forward bloc’s claim to field its own candidate ‘come what may’ proved mere rhetoric after a snub from their ‘new boss’ -- Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

On the other hand, PML-Q legislator Mohsin Leghari filed papers against the consent of the party leadership on a general seat.

Dr Tahir Ali Javed-led forward bloc, known as Unification Bloc, met a disappointment after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz parliamentary board rejected its (bloc’s) nominee MPA Ejaz Shafi.

Prior to Mr Shafi’s interview for a Senate ticket, Mr Javed had warned the PML-N leadership against reaching an understanding with the ruling People’s Party on electing the senators unopposed. Mr Javed had said it was the bloc members’ right to have a senator among them because of their numerical strength. Ms Ayesha Javed was another aspirant for the Senate from the Unification Bloc.

“The old method -- divide and rule -- applies in our case that is why we have to concede our seat to the PML-N candidate,” a bloc member who requested anonymity told Dawn.

“We were quite hopeful of fielding our candidate but when it came to show numerical strength it drastically dipped to a dozen or so, thanks to the our boss,” he said.

Sources said the PML-N leadership simply told the bloc leader that they could not accommodate its candidate because there had been a lot of competition among the PML-N men for the slot. “So there should not be any hard feeling,” a PML-N leader was quoted as having said.

The bloc members’ disappointment got compounded following an understanding between the PML-N and the party (PML-Q) they ditched to support it. “Electing senators unopposed is like match-fixing among the PPP, PML-N and PML-Q,” he said.

Some Unification Bloc members believe that they have played their cards poorly and blame Dr Tahir Ali Javed for creating division among them.

While Unification Bloc continues to submit to the PML-N commands, outspoken Mohsin Leghari filed his nomination papers on Tuesday, ignoring his party’s line. Mr Leghari contends the senators should be elected through votes. “The MPAs should not be kept away from the Senate’s electoral process, this does not happen in true democracy,” Mr Leghari said.

He made it clear that his step should not be seen as a violation of party discipline as he only wanted to raise the issue to empower the elected members of the provincial assemblies.