“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed” independent candidate from Lahore’s NA-121 Waseem Qadir has joined Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

“I have come back to where I belong,” Qadir said in a video shared on PML-N’s X handle on Sunday. He was standing alongside PML-N Senior Vice President and chief organiser Maryam Nawaz.

Interestingly, PML-N had initially described Qadir as a PTI-backed candidate.

The party soon deleted the tweet, and posted it again, with the new caption referring to him as an independent candidate.

The development comes as wheeling and dealing kicked off to acquire the required number of 134 to form the new government in the Centre.

Earlier in the day, Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui-led MQM-P delegation held talks with PML-N leadership in Lahore.

A statement issued from PML-N’s X handle said the MQM-P and PML-N, after an hour-long meeting, reached a “principle agreement” to work together in the upcoming government, according to a statement released by the Nawaz Sharif-led party.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif, earlier this week, extended an invitation to all political parties to unite and establish a coalition government.

Sharif asserted that the PML-N had secured the highest number of seats in the elections, positioning itself as the “single-largest party.”

To build an alliance, he entrusted his brother, Shehbaz Sharif, with the responsibility of engaging with the heads of PPP, JUI-F, and MQM-P.