Liaquat Jatoi eyes alliance with PML-N

Founder of Sindh Awami Ittehad to address meeting with Nawaz on Monday.

LAHORE:

The founder of Sindh Awami Ittehad and former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi is likely to merge his newly formed political party with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, officials from both parties informed The Express Tribune.

According to an official statement of the PML-N, Nawaz Sharif, on Jatoi’s invitation, will visit his village Beto Jatoi on March 26. Both the leaders will address a public gathering for an important announcement, it said.

PML-N’s Central Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan says this is the first of a long list of political associations from Sindh. He says the party is expecting around 20 political heavyweights from Sindh to join PML-N.

Sources say National Sindh Front’s Chairman Mumtaz Bhutto is also keen on an alliance with PML-N, along with others like the Sherazi family, the Mehar family and Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

According to an evaluation by PML-N’s think-tank, Jatoi might be able to win one National Assembly seat and four provincial seats from Dadu district. He has served as the chief minister of Sindh from 1997 to 1998 under the premiership of Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif had earlier said that he would not accept Jatoi in his party; this had led Jatoi to enter into negotiations with PPP’s co-chairman President Asif Ali Zardari. However, sources say that following unsuccessful negotiations with President Zardari, Jatoi had asked a mutual friend of his and Sharif’s to convince the latter to allow him into the party.

An MNA from Dadu, PPP’s Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur confirmed that negotiations between Jatoi and Zardari had not worked out as Jatoi’s demand for constituencies had not been accepted.

Jatoi was previously a member of PML-Q and had been appointed the federal minister for water and power during Musharraf’s regime.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2012.