'We will not quit the government in Punjab,' the Pakistan prime minister told lawmakers during a meeting at the state guest house last night.
Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has said his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) will not quit the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government in Punjab despite serious concerns expressed by party legislators over functioning of the coalition in the key province and Nawaz Sharif's tirade against president Asif Ali Zardari.
"We will not quit the government in Punjab," Gilani told PPP lawmakers during a meeting at the State Guest House here
last night.
The Premier made his position clear after PPP legislators demanded that the party should quit the Punjab government
because PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had described PPP leader and
president Asif Ali Zaradri as "the biggest threat" to democracy.
Gilani asked the annoyed lawmakers to show political prudence and tolerance to save the coalition in the country's politically-crucial province.
"Ignore the problems you are facing with the coalition partner in Punjab for the sake of democracy," he said.
During the meeting, the PPP legislators informed Gilani that they were not being given any share of government jobs.
Under the power-sharing formula in Punjab, the ratio of sharing jobs has been 60:40 between the PML-N and PPP.
"In spite of our requests, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is not willing to honour the agreement. An expansion of the provincial Cabinet also has been put on the backburner owing to this reason," a lawmaker informed Gilani.
Another legislator spoke about the "powerlessness" of the seven PPP ministers in the province.
"A PML-Q lawmaker is more powerful than our minister. The chief minister does not even bother to take us on board in the decision-making process and ignores the fact that we are part of the government," he claimed.
Gilani responded by saying that he had spoken to Shahbaz Sharif about the job quota issue but the latter told him that since the PML-N was not being given a share in the federal job quota, he could not reciprocate.
"However I will raise the issue with the Punjab government again," Gilani said.
The Premier also made it clear that he was running the government while President Zardari was handling the affairs of
the PPP.
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