PML-N wins back Awan group support.

GUJRAT -- The PML-N got a `major boost' in local politics on Sunday by winning over the support of disgruntled former party MNA Malik Haneef Awan and his nephew, ex- MNA Jamil Awan.

Haneef Awan announced his return to the party at a meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Model Town, Lahore, where PML-N MNA Abid Raza Kotla and special assistant to prime minister Ataullah Tarrar and others were also present.

Mr Awan had served as PML-N Gujrat district president for two decades. He was twice elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1997 and 2013. He was elected MNA in 2012 by-poll after Jamil Awan, elected MNA in 2008, was de-seated over dual nationality issue.

However, Mr Awan contested 2018 elections from NA-71 (Sara-i-Alamgir, Kotla and Kharian seat) as an independent candidate after his differences with some senior leaders.

Sources said some Gujrat-based party leaders had been striving for the last one year to win back the support of Awan group to strengthen party position in Gujrat.

They said...