ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: Pakistan Muslim League-Q leaders have said that powers of President Pervez Musharraf to amend the Constitution ceased to exist after the lifting of emergency and repeal of Provisional Constitution Order and there was no proposal to give the same powers to him again.

In an informal chat with journalists here on Wednesday, PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said: “The question of Benazir Bhutto becoming the next prime minister does not arise unless the president gives approval for a parliamentary amendment under schedule 6 of the Constitution.”

PML-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain Sayed, finance secretary Imtiaz Ranjha and former minister of state Tariq Azeem were present on the occasion.

Referring to American influence in the country’s political set-up, the PML chief said that as long as the ban on a person becoming prime minister for a third time was there, the Pakistan People’s Party chairperson could not get that position again.

“What the US can do if we win 150 seats and the PPP cannot manage to bag more than 40 seats?”

He, however, said his party could cooperate with Ms Bhutto if the PPP won a substantial number of seats.

Chaudhry Shujaat rejected speculations that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif consider to announce a joint boycott of the elections just before the polling day and said that even if they did so their main candidates would contest.

He said that an understanding had been reached with the JUI-F for seat adjustments in all the provinces under local arrangement, adding that the process would continue till 48 hours before the election.

The PML-Q chief claimed that his party would win 90 to 110 National Assembly seats from Punjab, but former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was expecting more than 110 NA seats.

He said the PML-Q would emerge as the single largest party in the provincial assemblies of Punjab and the NWFP.

Chaudhry Shujaat said that if returned to power his party would support the National Reconciliation Ordinance to continue the reconciliation process.

He refused to confirm or reject speculations that a plan was ready to bring former prime minister Shaukat Aziz back to his office by appointing Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as a stopgap premier till the former got elected on an NA seat.

The PML leader expressed concern over the continuing ban on a private news channel and supported a demand that election results be announced by private TV channels after the end of polling.

Mr. Mushahid Hussain admitted that the poll boycott by the Baloch and Pakhtoon nationalist parties in Balochistan was a disturbing factor though it was satisfying that all major national political parties were taking part in the elections.