LAHORE: At a huddle with senior PML-N leaders, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday discussed the party’s future action plan in the wake of Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s advice a day earlier seeking dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.
As the party discussed how Mr Elahi managed to win the trust vote despite the ‘best’ efforts of PML-N and PPP to stop the development, Governor Balighur Rehman in a media talk said he would sign the summary for the dissolution of the legislature ‘after going through all legal aspects’.
Mr Rehman is likely to have a meeting with PM Shehbaz on the issue on Saturday (today).
The return of the party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif was also a subject of the discussion at the key meeting as PML-N leaders were of the view his presence in Pakistan is a must if the party has to go into polls, a party insider told Dawn.
He said the premier told the participants to put up a brave face on the prospect of going into polls and need not be ‘apologetic’.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and PM’s special assistant on interior Attaullah Tarar were among the others present in the meeting.
“Rana Sanaullah briefed the meeting as to how Mr Elahi managed to woo at least five angry lawmakers of the ruling coalition (in Punjab) at the last minute and that if that had not happened the federal coalition would have been in the game,” the insider said.
In a phone call to Nawaz Sharif, Mr Sanaullah explained the reasons behind the PML-N’s failure to cause required defections in the parliamentary parties of PTI and PML-Q during Mr Elahi’s trust vote.
PML-N’s over-reliance on the establishment and Asif Ali Zardari reportedly was one of the major factors for the party’s failure to cause required defections in the PTI-PML-Q alliance, the meeting was told.
According to the insider, Mr Sanaullah suggested that Governor Balighur Rehman should not sign the summary (and let the legislature stand dissolved 48 hours — Saturday evening — from the time the CM sent it to governor).
However, there were no takers of the suggestion at the meeting.
The insider said the governor was likely to sign the summary.
