LAHORE: Because of PML-Q leaders’ unwillingness to hold talks for seat adjustment with PPP’s Punjab president Manzoor Wattoo, President Asif Ali Zardari has authorised Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to initiate contacts with them.

Raja Ashraf is likely to hold first meeting on arrangements for the elections with PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat and Deputy Prime Minister Pervaiz Elahi in Islamabad this week.

“President Zardari has asked PM Ashraf to directly hold seat-adjustment talks with the PML-Q leadership,” Moonis Elahi, son of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, told Dawn on Sunday.

“We are more comfortable with PM Ashraf because of his understanding of politics. We hope PML-Q and PPP will unanimously finalise potential candidates, especially in Punjab,” he said.

He said the PML-Q had already done its homework and expected that the seat-adjustment issue would be resolved.

When asked about reports that some PPP leaders were trying to woo PML-Q’s ‘electables’ in the province, he said there was an understanding between the two parties not to ‘work’ on each other’s leaders.

President Zardari had constituted a four-member team headed by Mr Wattoo for talks with PML-Q. Moonis Elahi was leading his party’s team.

But when Mr Wattoo contacted some strong PML-Q candidates and tried to persuade them to switch loyalty, relations between the two sides were strained. Chaudhry Shujaat reported the matter to President Zardari who stopped Mr Wattoo from making more such contacts.

Sources close to Mr Wattoo said he was keen to win the confidence of his boss by bringing potential winners from the PML-N and PTI into his party after becoming its provincial chief a few months ago.

But failure to achieve any success made him desperate and he started baiting influential people in the PML-Q.

At one stage, some PPP and PML-Q leaders started predicting a break-up between the two parties ahead of the election if their leaders failed to sort out the issue.

“As Wattoo’s role in seat adjustment is over, relations between the PPP and PML-Q will improve and there is no immediate threat to their alliance,” a Punjab PPP leader said.