Serious differences cropped up within the PML-Q ranks on Saturday as both the sides - Chaudhris camp and the dissident group - resorted to trade allegations against each other in front of the public. The situation went from bad to worse with the announcement of dissident group to resist the reelection of PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain for a successive third term.
The group also hinted at making Senator Salim Saifullah Khan as the party President, Hamid Nasir Chattha as its Chairman and Humayun Akhtar Khan as Secretary General. However, party's Secretary General Mushahid Hussain thinks otherwise. In an exclusive talk with APP, Mushahid wondered why the dissidents were running away from the party elections. "I wonder why my friends don't take part in the upcoming party elections which they had been demanding for long.
I think the dissidents have no majority in the party," remarked Mushahid. "We are not doing drawing room politics and rather we are working at the grass-roots level to strengthen the party by adopting an issue-based political agenda. We are real democrats and I myself rejected ministerial slots offered to me many a times during the past five years," he added. He said the PML-Q leadership had never accepted life-long chairmanship. We have promoted democratic norms in the party, he added.
Earlier, the like-minded group of the PML-Q assembled at the residence of former federal minister Humayun Akhtar Khan in Lahore to discuss the recent situation developing with the intent of Chaudhris camp to get the party president and general secretary reelected in July. After the meeting, the dissidents blasted the party leadership, alleging that the party leadership had failed to keep the party intact and run the party in a democratic manner.
In an exclusive talk with the APP, Salim Saifullah Khan said that the wrong policies adopted by Chaudhris had led the party to defeat in the recent general elections. "Despite being in power for five long years, the Chaudhris could not get the party win the polls," he added. On the other hand, dissident leader Humayun Akhtar Khan told a press conference in Lahore that the party constitution did not allow Chaudhry Shujaat to contest the party polls for a third term.
"We would not let the party become a family affair of the Chaudhris of Gujrat. We would also not accept the General Council of the party. We are in consultation with the party leaders including Ejaz-ul-Haq and Arbab Ghulam Rahim," he added. Responding to a question, Humayun brushed aside the impression that his group wanted to replace Shujaat with former president Parvez Musharraf. "Musharraf had better ties with the Chaudhris rather than us," he remarked.