MULTAN: Veteran politician Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa who has recently resigned as Punjab chief minister’s senior advisor may prefer retirement form politics to leaving the party which he joined long before the Sharifs joined the politics.

According to sources close to the Khosas, the PML-N leader from south Punjab thinks why he should leave the party, after developing differences with its Punjab leadership (read Shahbaz Sharif), as he had been affiliated with the mother party since the days it was being led by Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah.

Khosa senior claims to have been a polling agent for Ms Jinnah when she contested polls against Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

The sources say that Khosa did not expect a ‘cold shoulder’ from the PML-N President Nawaz Sharif after he resigned from the CM’s senior advisor slot.

“Mr Khosa was not expecting such attitude from the party chief Mian Nawaz Sharif over his resignation from all political offices because of his differences with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif,” a source said.

He said so far neither Nawaz Sharif personally contacted Mr Khosa nor any of the prominent leaders of PML-N tried to mediate between the party leadership and a disgruntled senior colleague.

“Khawja Saad Rafique did visit Zulfiqar Khosa on Saturday but he met him in his personal capacity and not on behalf or direction of the party leadership,” the source added.

He said some of the contents of Friday’s press conference of Dost Muhammad Khosa, the former chief minister of Punjab and Zulfiqar Khosa’s son, targeting Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza, further narrowed the chances of any rapprochement between the two sides.

Now improvement, if any, in the ties between ‘N’ leadership and the Khosas would be possible after the return of Nawaz Sharif who is likely to proceed to Saudi Arabia for Umrah on Tuesday (tomorrow).

A source said the reports of the PML-N leadership making contacts with Jaffar Leghari of Leghari family and Amjad Farooq Khosa, who is his cousin and a political rival, were also a cause of concern for Khosa senior.

“The contacts of PML-N leadership with the political opponents of Mr Khosa could force the veteran politician to resign from politics instead of joining any other party” he said.

He said that Mr Khosa was neither considering joining Pakistan Peoples’ Party nor Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and in case the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif did not contact him he would prefer to retire from politics.