Karachi: In a sudden turnaround, slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari today said he had "no intention" of becoming Prime Minister and that his Pakistan People's Party would decide on a candidate for the post.

The PPP co-chairman said he was not a candidate for the prime ministerial post while talking to journalists at Bhutto's ancestral village of Naudero in the southern Sindh province.

Zardari's remarks came a day after Newsweek magazine quoted him as saying he might be interested in becoming prime minister if the PPP wins the February 18 general election as he had the "widest name recognition" in the party.

"There is no one single personality (in the party), apart from me, who anybody even knows," he said. "No one else has a consensus." The PPP yesterday released what it described as Bhutto's "political will", in which she named Zardari as the "interim" leader of the party but did not back anyone for the post of Prime Minister.

Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack after addressing an election rally at Rawalpindi on December 27. Meanwhile, thousands of PPP supporters have started gathering at Naudero and Garhi Khuda Baksh, the village where the Bhutto family mausoleum is located, for a ceremony to be held tomorrow to mark the end of 40 days of mourning for the slain leader.

The arrangements for Bhutto's chehlum were given final touches today. Camps have been set up near the mausoleum and tents have been erected around a nearby stadium to accommodate the PPP supporters.

Source : PTI