Zardari meets Shujaat in last-ditch effort to garner support for CM Punjab poll

• Pervez Elahi made it clear that 'he is Imran Khan’s candidate for the Punjab CM elections', says source.
• Zardari telephones PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and discusses making Pervez Elahi a joint candidate of PML-N and PML-Q.
• Rana Sanaullah reacts saying that Pervez Elahi would not be the joint candidate.

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari last night again met PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in a bid to woo him to support PML-N’s candidate Hamza Shahbaz, Geo News reported Thursday.

The political temperature in Punjab continued to mount as the clock ticks on the crucial Punjab assembly session for the chief minister's election, taking place this afternoon.

A crucial session of the Punjab Assembly will be held at 4pm today (Friday) for the election of the Punjab CM. The clear victory of the PTI in the Punjab by-polls had turned around the number game in the Punjab Assembly, with Chaudhry Pervez Elahi now most likely to replace Hamza Shahbaz Sharif as the new chief minister of the province in the coming days. 

Despite two earlier meetings with Chaudhry Shujaat, Zardari last night again visited Zahoor palace and stayed there for hours.

The News reported, citing sources that the former president had sent a message for a meeting to Pervez Elahi and Moonis Elahi. However, they both refused to meet him.

Sources close to Pervez Elahi said that the Punjab Assembly speaker had made it clear that he was Imran Khan’s candidate for the Punjab CM elections.

Meanwhile, sources informed about the matter said that Zardari had contacted PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and discussed the current political situation ahead of the Punjab CM election.

As per sources, in a telephonic conversation with Nawaz Sharif, the former president suggested making Pervez Elahi a joint candidate of PML-N and PML-Q for the Punjab CM’s slot.

However, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah dispelled the news reports, saying that Pervez Elahi would not be the joint candidate of PML-N and PML-Q for the CM Punjab election.

“It is just a rumour, there is nothing true about it. Hamza Shahbaz is the only candidate of PML-N and coalition partner and we are all hopeful of his success,” he said.