ISLAMABAD: Indicating that it has already prepared a plan B to ensure that Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister of Pakistan for a record fourth time, a senior PML-N leader has said that if there are legal hurdles for this, the party will remove them if voted back to power.

Pakistan is going to the polls on February 8. The 73-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sharif returned to Pakistan from London on October 21 after four years of self-imposed exile. After his arrival, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) restored

Nawaz’s appeals against his conviction in the Avenfield Apartments and Al-Azizia corruption cases but did not fix any date for the hearing. Nawaz has been on protective bail.

Besides, the three-time prime minister is also facing disqualification till 2028 to contest polls in which he also needs a clean chit from the court.

PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah on Saturday said that if there are legal hurdles impeding Nawaz’s accession to the Prime Minister’s Office for a fourth term, the party will remove them after coming into power, the Express Tribune newspaper reported on Sunday.

“With a stop-gap arrangement in mind, the PML-N seems to have prepared a plan B for ensuring that its supremo (Nawaz Sharif) becomes the premier for the fourth time,” the report said.

Earlier, PML-N remained confident that there would be no legal impediments for Nawaz to become the prime minister yet again, and given the kind of concessions extended out to him, it appeared to be a likely possibility.

However, Sanaullah’s admission of a plan B has revealed that the party might not be all that confident about the prospects of the court cases against Nawaz, it said.