Shujaat to name PML-QA candidate for premiership

The Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) yesterday authorised its parliamentary leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to name the party's candidate for prime minister, party officials said.

"Chaudhry Sahib has been given a list of candidates and authorised to make the nomination for the office of chief executive," PML-QA spokesman Azim Chaudhry told Gulf News.

"On top of the list is Mir Zafarullah Jamali," he said, without indicating when the parliamentary leader would announce his choice.

The decision was taken at a lengthy session here of the central working committee of the party, which emerged as the single largest group in National Assembly from the October 10 elections.

The meeting, which was attended by MNAs-elect of PML-QA, did not accept the resignation of party president Mian Mohammed Azhar, who failed to win a berth in federal assembly at the polls, the spokesman said.

Azhar agreed to continue as president, the spokesman said. Party sources said failure to reach a consensus led to the decision to authorise the parliamentary leader to decide the issue.

Hussain is expected to make a decision after consultations with different sections in the party over the next few days, the sources said.

"There are three to four candidates. I will not disclose any name as this may spark a row," Azhar said, speaking on a private domestic television channel after the meeting.

Jamali, a veteran politician from Balochistan province where he twice served as chief minister, is widely believed to enjoy backing of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

The sources said others vying for the top office included Humayun Akhtar, Ghaus Bakhsh Mehr and Mian Khurshid Kasuri.

Former president Farooq Ahmed Leghari, a leader of the National Alliance, an ally of PML-QA, was also trying to muster support from newly elected parliamentarians of the leading party for nomination as prime minister.

The six-party religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, has already nominated its secretary general, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, as their candidate for prime ministership.

MMA is the third largest group in the National Assembly after Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians.

The religious alliance holds the balance in the splintered parliament and both PML-QA and PPPP have been negotiating with the MMA in a bid to forge a coalition.

No clear picture has emerged so far, but PML-QA officials claim their party and MMA are mostly likely to clinch a deal very soon.