LAHORE: President Asif Zardari will reach city on Sunday (today) afternoon where party workers, leaders and members Parliament from the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan will welcome him at the Bilawal House.

Party sources said the President will land at the Allama Iqbal International Airport and will use helicopter to reach Bilawal House. Party workers are advised to reach Bilawal House by 4:00 pm on Sunday, said one office bearer of PPP Lahore. He further added that thousands of banners and flex signs have been prepared with welcoming slogans, to be displayed in important areas of the city.

President PPP Punjab Samina Khalid Ghurki landed from abroad on Saturday evening to attend a party meeting to review reception arrangements on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the central General Secretary PPP Sardar Latif Khosa told Business Recorder that President Zardari will also host a dinner to senior journalists on the same evening before departing for Islamabad to attend oath taking ceremony of new President on Monday morning.

Khosa said the office of Chairman PPP is yet vacant and chances are high that the party would request President Zardari to accept this responsibility.

It may be noted that a section of media has quoted Khosa suggesting that President Zardari would become Chairman PPP with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as Patron-in-Chief of PPP. However, Khosa made clear that he was talking of the possibility of such a development but all depends on meeting of Central Executive Committee (CEC) later. Meanwhile, there were reports that President Zardari would stay in Bilawal House Lahore for about 10 days before departing for abroad. However, the party leadership was not immediately in a position to confirm any such itinerary.