Punjab Assembly Speaker and senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had a meeting with former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday.
A press release issued after the meeting said both sides discussed matters of mutual interest and the national political scene without giving any more details.
However, as per a report in Dawn, “a close aide to the Chaudhrys of Gujrat said that some quarters were seeing snap polls by the year-end and the meeting should be taken in the context of exploring possibilities of political cooperation in that scenario. He claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan canceled his scheduled UK visit knowing the political storms in the making, both within his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and in the ruling coalition.”
The PML-Q is presently an ally of the PTI in Punjab.
Though officially Pervaiz Elahi denies any differences with the PTI, his son Moonis Elahi has criticised various policies of the government publicly, particularly on social media.
Asif Zardari has summoned the party’s chief organiser in Punjab Raja Pervez Ashraf to Bilawal House in Lahore.
A PPP leader, who requested not to be named, said Zardari had taken on to himself the task of bargaining for a future alliance strong enough to form the next government, directing his son and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to look after other matters for the time being.
However, the Punjab government has termed the meeting of Elahi and Zardari a “storm in a teacup” and rubbished rumours of any differences between the coalition partners.
Special Assistant to the Punjab Chief Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said, “The PML-Q is an experienced political party and an important ally of the PTI government.”
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, we have defeated the worried Opposition — due to the successes achieved by the government — at every front,” added Awan.
