GUJRAT: Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) president and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has contacted PML-N MNA Abid Raza Kotla in the wake of the ongoing political situation and upcoming elections of the Punjab Assembly, particularly in Gujrat region.

Sources said the Q chief extended an invitation to Mr Kotla, the lone MNA of the PML-N in Gujrat district, for a meeting. Sources said both sides stressed the need for a detailed meeting.

This is the first-ever formal contact between the Q chief and the Kotla group of the PML-N since the Shujaat camp joined Shahbaz Sharif-led federal government.

Earlier, Mr Kotla had expressed his reservations over the dominance of federal minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and his brother Shafay Hussain, scions of Shujaat, in the administrative affairs of Gujrat district after the caretaker government was installed in Punjab.

Sources say senior party leadership of the PML-N has made some behind-the-scene efforts to bring the PML-Q and Gujrat PML N leadership on same page and the fresh contact between the Q chief and Kotla is the result of these efforts.

PML-Q contacts PPP’s Fakhar Pagganwala

It is learnt that Shujaat Hussain telephoned Abid Raza and reportedly deplored the incident of a clash between the supporters of PML-N and his nephew Musa Elahi in the Kotla civil hospital a couple of months ago.

Talking to Dawn, MNA Kotla confirmed receiving a phone call from the Q chief and said that he would soon be meeting him. He said the meeting should have been held a few months ago to adopt a joint strategy in Gujrat district where both the parties would have to counter the Parvez Elahi camp that was now part of of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf.

Last month, Naeem Raza Kotla, the head of his own faction of Kotla group and the elder brother of Abid Raza, had called on the Q chief in Lahore and discussed the political situation in Gujrat following the Kotla civil hospital clash.

It was Naeem Raza group that had actually resisted the ceremony to rename the Kotla civil hospital as Zahoor Elahi Shaheed THQ hospital by Musa Elahi. Later on, the Abid Raza group also joined the resistance.

However, both the Kotla groups are still divided as Naeem Raza Kotla and Abid Raza Kotla have filed nomination papers for PP-29.

New political realignments are being explored by the parties in Gujrat district in the wake of Parvez Elahi camp’s joining the PTI as well as the PML-Q’s policy to remain an ally of the PML-N.

On the other hand, the PML-Q leadership has also approached Gujrat PPP leader Mian Fakhar Mushtaq Pagganwala to explore the chances of cooperation as Mr Pagganwala and Shafay Hussain of Q have filed their nomination papers for PP-33 (Gujrat city) for Punjab Assembly polls scheduled to be held on April 30.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2023