Amir Muqam still reluctant to join coalition government

Once the king maker, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) is kneeling with each passing day as another lawmaker Amir Muqam has quit the ministerial slot bestowed on him few days ago. Muqam, who is provincial president of Khyber-Paktunkhwa and a key member of the party, sources revealed, was reluctant to join the coalition government from the day-one as he was increasingly at odds with Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi and his group within the party.
The immediate cause of his parting ways is disagreement over the sudden decision of the party to join the ruling janta, which the sources claimed, was opposed by the majority of the members, saying that such a move will dent the party's credibility.
They further claimed that if the Chaudhry cousins do not end up siding with the majority while taking major decisions in future, the PML-Q split, which was expected to happen after emergence of two factions-Like Minded group headed by Salim Saifullah Khan and Unification Bloc led by Dr Tahir Ali Javed in Punjab Assembly, may happen before 2013 general elections.
A top PML-Q member who requested anonymity further substantiated the claim about possible split of the party, saying that five of its senators, annoyed over party's alliance with the PPP had already asked Senate Secretariat not to shift them from opposition to treasury benches.
Sources said Tariq Azeem, Naeem Hussain Chattha, Gulshan Saeed, Javed Ali Shah and Jamal Leghari were among the PML-Q senators who submitted an application with the Senate Secretariat demanding seats on opposition benches. Senators Salim Saifullah Khan, Ghaffar Qureshi and Haroon Akhtar have already parted ways with the Chaudhrys-led PML-Q, but the group has so far announced no policy regarding sitting on opposition or treasury benches in Senate.
It was also learnt that emergence of a similar group is also possible in National Assembly as MNA Marvi Memon and recently-elected PML-Q MNA Owais Ahmad Khan Leghari had already opposed the alliance. On the other hand, the Chaudhry cousins die-hards like Basharat Hussain Raja including some others have started enjoying the perks and privileges of their slots. It is a common perception the Chaudhris of Gujrat had no other option, but to join the ruling bandwagon to save Moonis Elahi, son of Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, who is behind the bars in multi-billion graft scam. The PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, could not be contacted despite several attempts to give his version on the matter.