News
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Chaudhrys approach Mushahid to get him slot of foreign minister
By Hussain Kashif
LAHORE: Central leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has started making efforts to bring the annoyed leader of the party, Mushahid Hussain, on the same page on an alliance with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and to take oath as foreign minister, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday.
PML-Q Central Secretary General, Mushahid Hussain, is angry with the party’s leadership on such alliance and has avoided taking oath as foreign minister in the PPP-led government, when his other colleagues have recently taken their oaths as ministers.
Mushahid, who is one of the key and sagacious leaders of the party, initially agreed to get ministries in the PPP-led government, but differed with the party’s leadership on forging electoral alliance with the PPP-led government way ahead of elections, party sources informed this scribe.
According to well-placed sources in PML-Q, party heads Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi are fully confident that they will succeed in wooing Mushahid to their side and he (Mushahid) will take oath as a foreign minister in the incumbent government because the post of foreign minister is vacant and PPP’s leadership has agreed to give it to PML-Q, as per agreement.
The sources further said that Mushahid had no grievances on the issue of supporting the PPP-led government and to get ministries in the government, but was only opposed to going for an electoral alliance with the government at this stage, as the politics of election and its strategy are still unclear, hence electoral alliance, according to him, between both the parties is premature. “Mushahid has also expressed some doubts regarding long-term partnership with the government in the current economic and political scenario,” sources elaborated.
Sources informed Daily Times that that was the reason that Mushahid Hussain, who was scheduled to return to Pakistan from China on the eve of an oath-taking ceremony of the PML-Q ministers, did not come back and prolonged his stay in China and now plans to return after some time.
PML-Q sources also said that seeing the situation, Chaudhry brothers have started making contacts with Mushahid in China to get him agreed on taking oath as foreign minister, because the post was still vacant and the PPP government had just nominated Hina Rabani Khar as State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
On the other hand, sources also told this scribe that the former minister and PML-Q’s central leader Owais Lughari was also annoyed and feeling resentful on the issue of the governorship of the province of Punjab as he was willing to grab the position for his family and wanted to demonstrate his family’s political muscle to its rivals, Khosa tribe, in Dera Ghazi Khan. “Chaudhry brothers are also in touch with Owais on the issue,” sources concluded.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk