LAHORE, Feb 10: Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has challenged Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan to contest election against him from Gujrat.

Speaking to workers at a function at party’s provincial office here on Friday, he said “if Sharif and tsunami Khan are so confident they should contest the election against me in Gujrat”.

Mukhtar said the PPP would win the next general election and nobody could defeat it as long as people were with it. He said some novices in politics were trying to teach politics to the PPP. He said President Asif Ali Zardari made a mistake by elevating Shah Mahmood Qureshi to the level of a leader. “Had he (Zardari) not committed this mistake, Qureshi would have been roaming in Multan streets,” he said.

Earlier, talking to reporters at the airport, the defence minister said the prime minister was ready to face the court on Feb 13 in contempt of court case. To a question, he said Mansoor Ejaz was joking with Pakistan. He said there was no reality in the memo issue and Nawaz Sharif went to London after learning this.

Samina Khalid Ghurki, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Samiullah Khan, Shaukat Basra and Omar Sharif Bokhari also spoke.