LAHORE: The session of the Punjab Assembly's parliamentary committee ended inconclusive again on Monday as it failed to reach a consensus on the caretaker chief minister during the second day of its allocated three-day deliberations.

However, members of the committee expressed the hope that the matter would be resolved on Tuesday, the last day for it to decide on the key post before the matter goes to the provincial election commission.

The committee comprises of three members each from the opposition and treasury benches in the provincial assembly, with the ruling PML-N represented by former ministers Rana Sanaullah, Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman and Iqbal Chunnar, and the opposition PPP and PML-Q represented by Shaukat Basra, Zulfiqar Gondal and Chaudhry Zaheer.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, PML-Q member Chaudhry Zaheer said a candidate would be agreed upon by Tuesday in accordance with the rules set by the National Assembly and Senate parliamentary committee for selecting the caretaker chief minister.

However, PML-N leader and former provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah accused the opposition of raising unsubstantiated reservations against the PML-N’s nominees.

The PML-N had suggested the names of Justice Amer Raza (retired) and former bureaucrat Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed while the opposition wanted to see either Justice Zahid Husain (retired) or senior journalist Najam Sethi for the post.

If the six-member committee fails to select a nominee within three days, the matter will be referred to the Election Commission like in the case of the caretaker prime minister.