LAHORE / ISLAMABAD, May 4: Instead of quitting the party post as desired by President Pervez Musharraf during a meeting on Saturday, Pakistan Muslim League-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has sought from him details of “the concessions the PPP is offering in exchange for PML-Q’s cooperation in the event of the PML-N pulling out of the coalition.”

According to sources, to the surprise of everyone present at the meeting, Chaudhry Shujaat not only “refused to step down as demanded by the president” but also mounted a counter-offensive by asking him to “come up with details of PPP’s offers for the PML-Q so that the party can discuss them”.

And in another surprising development, at a meeting held in Islamabad on Sunday, PML-Q leaders reposed confidence in the leadership of Chaudhry Shujaat. They were of the view that any move to oust him would weaken the party.

According to the sources, the president, realising his political weakness and dependence on the PML-Q, has backed off and there is no possibility now of a change of guards in the PML-Q. The issue has been settled in favour of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat.Chaudhry Shujaat said in the Saturday meeting that if the PPP needed his party’s cooperation, it should discuss the matter with him, instead of with the presidency or some ‘political adventurers’, the sources said.

He said he would have no objection if the presidency wanted to facilitate talks between the PML-Q and the PPP.

But such an effort must be based on “the incentives that the PPP was offering rather than adjusting the leaderships of other parties to its wishes”, he said. If the PPP wanted indirect talks through the presidency then it should “put all offers on the table and let the party decide”.

He said that he would have no objection if other PML factions wanted to merge into the main party and some ceremonial posts like chairman or patron were offered to old and respected politicians like Pir Pagara. But only the party general council could elect other office-bearers.

“The Chaudhrys are not ready to compromise on two things: any executive party post going without electoral process and even the ceremonial post going to someone from Punjab,” the sources said.

The Chaudhrys knew that anyone from Punjab, even enjoying a ceremonial post, would cut into their political base and that no one could win party polls without their help, they said.

They said that hopefuls like Hamid Nasir Chattha, Manzoor Hussain Wattoo, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Humayun Akhtar Khan could hardly match the political clout of the Chaudhrys, especially in the Punjab. That is why all of them were operating through the presidency – building up imaginary scenarios and trying to keep the presidency politically relevant, the sources said.

One such scenario doing the rounds is that the PPP has agreed to support Sheikh Rashid in the by-election for the National Assembly seat NA-55 if the Chaudhrys are removed from the party leadership, they said.

“Saturday’s meeting was a grim reminder for the president of his receding influence on the party which he had put in place,” they said.

According to the sources, Chaudhry Shujaat reminded the president that over 3,500 party members had elected him in 2006 to the post of party chief for a three-year term and only they could remove him.

Replying to a question at a recent press conference about reported pressures from the president to quit his post, Chaudhry Shujaat had asked: “Is he (President Musharraf) a member of the party or its central working committee to ask for my resignation?”

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said a change in the PML-Q leadership is not on the cards. Talking to journalists after returning to Lahore from Islamabad where he had met President Musharraf, he said that only the general council comprising 3,500 office-bearers of the party was authorised to take a decision about changing the leadership because it had elected Chaudhry Shujaat and him as central and provincial presidents.

The sources said that the rift between the president and the Chaudhrys was likely to widen.

The PML-Q leaders believe that President Musharraf moved to replace Chaudhry Shujaat and Chaudhry Pervaiz to ensure a workable relationship with the PPP and to avoid his impeachment or clipping of his powers by parliament. The sources said the president wanted a person with good relations with Mr Zardari to head the PML-Q.

They said Mr Zardari had told the president that he was ready to have better ties with the PML-Q minus the Chaudhrys.

“I think the presidency is not in a position now to dictate us,” a senior leader of the PML-Q told Dawn.

He said it was better for the president to concentrate on holding dialogue with the two major political parties. “The Q-League is already with him. If he interferes in PML-Q’s affairs then he will be losing his footing. He will weaken himself.”