LAHORE: For the first time after coming to power following the May 2013 elections, PML-N has contacted the Q-League to seek its support for the election of chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate.

Federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid and Saad Rafique telephoned PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Saturday and sought his party’s support for the PML-N’s candidates for the two offices or the ones backed by it.

According to sources in PML-N, Mr Sayed told the ministers that he would come with a response after talking to PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Pervaiz Elahi.

Q-League has four seats in the Senate, PML-N 26 and PPP is leading in the upper house of 104 with 27 members.

“I think PML-N is a little late in seeking support of PML-Q. It should have offered PML-Q a seat in the Senate from Punjab to strike a deal with it,” said the sources.

PML-Q had backed PPP’s Nadeem Afzal Chan in the Senate election in Punjab, who also obtained 11 votes of PML-N “dissidents” but still failed to win.

PML-N has launched a ‘hunt’ to find out the “rebels” among its ranks.

“Going by this arrangement, it is likely that PML-Q will support the PPP-backed candidates,” the sources said, adding that there were few chances that the two factions of the League could ever come close to each other in coming days.

“It is often said that there is no permanent friend or foe in politics. But in the case of the two factions of the League, there seems to be no icebreaking between the Sharifs of Jati Umra and the Chaudhrys of Gujrat,” they said.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2015

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