Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif has abandoned his ambition of becoming Prime Minister for a record fourth time.
The real reason behind this is Sena and Nawaz’s daughter. According to party sources, he took this decision after the powerful army gave him two options.
The Army had asked him to choose between becoming the Prime Minister or making his daughter Maryam Nawaz the Chief Minister of Punjab province.
The PML-N chief’s nomination of Shehbaz Sharif for the post of Prime Minister had triggered a debate in the party as to why three-time Prime Minister Nawaz was sidelined despite being declared a contender for the post earlier.
Party source told PTI that Nawaz Sharif has decided to withdraw himself from the race for the post of prime minister in favor of his daughter and political successor Maryam Nawaz, 50.
The source said Nawaz Sharif could become prime minister to lead a coalition government for the fourth time. But then his daughter would have had no chance of becoming the Chief Minister of Punjab. For the sake of his daughter, Nawaz gave up his desire to become Prime Minister for the fourth time.
Sources said that after his party’s poor performance in the February 8 general elections, the army had given two options to Nawaz Sharif. Another source said the first option was for Nawaz Sharif to head the coalition government in Islamabad and make his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif the chief minister of Punjab.
The second option was to leave the top post for Shahbaz and give his daughter Maryam a chance to become the Chief Minister of Punjab. Nawaz chose the second option.
The source said that since 72-year-old Shehbaz Sharif was the army’s favourite, Nawaz Sharif was ultimately sidelined on pretext.