*PESHAWAR: *The speculation on who will be picked as the next chiefminister has intensified. However, two front-runners for the post havepoured cold water on that talk.

Former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa elementary education minister Atif Khan andformer health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai both came out on Friday andsaid that a decision on who will be the next chief minister of the provincewill be taken by the party leadership in due course of time.

Atif had been tipped by party insiders to be leading the race for thecoveted slot.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sources had said that it was likely thatformer chief minister Pervez Khattak will be given a ministry in the newfederal cabinet formed by the PTI.

Reports and screenshots of an alleged PTI ministerial line-up which havegone viral on social media claim that former K-P assembly speaker AsadQaiser has been picked to serve as the new chief minister of the province.

However, party sources denied this, noting that the party needs him in thenational assembly to secure its precarious position. In this regard, theysuggest that all those party members who have won their national assemblyseats along with their provincial assembly seats have been asked to picktheir NA seats over the K-P assembly seats.

Since Atif had lost his national assembly seat to Amir Haider Hoti of theAwami National Party (ANP) in Mardan, some party insiders suggested thismade him the best candidate to become K-P’s next chief minister.