Shehbaz Sharif says he was offered premiership before 2018 polls

Former chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that just a month before the General Elections 2018, two renowned journalists approached him with a message regarding his chances of becoming the next prime minister.

The PML-N leader, in an interview with Daily Jang, claimed that a month before July election, names of potential cabinet members were being finalised in his meetings with ‘powerful circles’.

Shehbaz Sharif said that his relations with the Chaudhries of PML-Q are almost neutral. He said that there are no feelings of enmity between them anymore but there’s no talk of any joint political strategy with them as yet.

The journalist posed several questions such as whether the former CM Punjab returned to the country as a result of a deal, and what was the purpose of his return.

Shehbaz Sharif was also asked if he came back to formulate a strategy for future political discourse, or if there was any secret negotiation underway with the Chaudhry brothers.

“How close is Shehbaz Sahrif to the powerful circles, and how far away? Who is the political heir of Nawaz Sharif?”

The questions also revolved around the political future of Maryam and Hamza Nawaz and whether the Sharif family has taken a formal decision in this regard.

The PML-N president responded to every question but declined to comment on one thing which he termed off the record.

When asked to comment whether his return is part of any deal, Shehbaz said when he heard about closure of international flights to and from Pakistan due to the coronavirus pandemic, he telephoned Nawaz Sharif and informed him that he must go back to Pakistan.