LAHORE, Jan 16: The PPP has invited Mian Azhar, former president of what was once called the PML-Q, to contest the next election from the party platform as its member.

The offer was made by former Punjab PPP president, Qasim Zia, and the couple recently returning to the party fold, Begum Abida Husain and Syed Fakhr Imam, at a meeting with the former Punjab governor.

According to a press release issued by Mian Azhar’s office, the PPP leaders told the former governor that Ms Benazir Bhutto wanted him to contest the next election from PPP platform.

Mian Azhar, however, said he would take a decision in this regard after consulting his supporters.

If he accepts the offer, Mian Azhar, being an important leader of the Arain community, will strengthen the PPP’s position in Lahore.

The matter is expected to come under discussion at the meetings Ms Bhutto will be holding with various party leaders in Dubai during the next few days, sources say.

It is also possible that Mian Azhar’s son joins the PPP before his father.

Political observers say that once the son joins the PPP, the father will be left with no option but to follow suit.

However, Mian Azhar says his son will not take any decision without his consent.

Mian Azhar had contested the 2002 general elections from NA-118 (Lahore) and NA-132 (Sheikhupura). Although all political factors were favourable, he lost on both the seats. A few months after the elections, he stepped down as president of the PML-Q and was succeeded by Chaudhry Shujaat Husain.

To borrow time to weigh his political options cautiously, Mian Azhar said that he would go by the advice of his supporters.

Mian Azhar was once very close to Mian Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif. However, their relation turned sour after the dismissal of the PML government in 1993, when, contrary to the Sharifs’ advice, Azhar quit as the Punjab governor.

Azhar had resigned to express solidarity with the Sharifs, his benefactors, but the Sharifs wanted him in the Governor’s House to enable them to prepare a better strategy against their opponents, including Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

The gulf widened when, during the second PML tenure, Mian Azhar invited Ms Bhutto and other PPP legislators to the wedding of his daughter, a gesture intolerable for the Sharifs.

It’s not clear whether the Sharifs are in contact with Mian Azhar or if they will allow him to join the PML-N.

However, the former governor has softened his attitude a lot, and now he demands the government allow both the former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to come back to Pakistan and lead their respective parties.