PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat has expressed his desire to mend ties with PML-N, a private TV channel reported on Wednesday. The joint opposition had, a day earlier, filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, accusing him of mismanaging the economy and poor governance. Following this, the opposition has claimed that it has the backing of a majority of National Assembly lawmakers, while the government is confident of defeating the no-trust motion. The PML-Q president – whose party is an ally of the PTI government in Punjab and the Centre – expressed the desire during a meeting with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his separate meeting with Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the TV channel reported.
He also hoped that PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif would move on and forget the invitation he sent to the PML-Q leader, sources said. Shahbaz had invited Shujaat to dinner last week, but the PML-Q did not attend it. Shujaat, according to sources, also told Zardari that he was ready to accept PPP’s conditions for electing a new chief minister in Punjab. At this, Zardari told the PML-Q president that he was too late and that they had to look for other options after the party did not take a clear stance, sources said. Zardari stressed that PML-Q accepted the dinner invitation of PML-N, but did not attend the dinner, which was against political ethics. “But since I respect you, I will speak to PML-N on your behalf.” After this, Fazl told Shahbaz about the important development and now it is expected that PML-Q and PML-N’s top brass would meet soon.
