QUETTA: The spokesman for the provincial chapter of the PML-N rejected on Sunday reports that the party leadership had agreed to offer the post of Balochistan’s chief minister to the National Party (NP) and insisted that it had decided that the post would go to the PML-N.

Talking to reporters at the press club, Santosh Kumar said the PML-N had acquired majority in the provincial assembly and the voters had empowered it to head the provincial government.

“It is a democratic tradition to choose the chief executive of a province from the party which has majority in the legislature.”

He claimed the central leadership of the PML-N wanted one of the party’s MPAs-elect to be the chief minister. Posts like speaker of the assembly and senior minister could be given to the allies, he added.

He said consultations with the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), National Party and others parties were in progress for formation of the coalition government.

The PML-N has 14 members and the NP and PkMAP have a combined strength of 18 in the 65-member assembly.

But PML-N MPAs-elect are divided over who the chief minister should be. Half of them are for Sardar Sanaullah Zehri and the other half supports Nawabzada Jangez Marri.

The deadlock has helped NP chief Dr Abdul Malik Baloch to emerge as a strong contender for the post. He has been nominated by the PkMAP.