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PPP ousted from Punjab cabinet

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday announced it was throwing the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) out of the coalition government in Punjab led by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

“We have decided to choose a separate path from the PPP in Punjab and govern the province without its support,” PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif told a crowded news conference ending almost three years of partnership with the PPP. The end of PPP-PML coalition in the most populous province of the country brings the two major political parties on a collision course with serious political implications. The PML-N has been sitting on opposition benches in the National Assembly offering a soft posture that earned it the jibe of being ‘friendly opposition.’
Sharif listed a litany of complaints against President Asif Ali Zardari saying he flouted solemn pledges and tried to take the PML-N for a ride on key national issues. “We remained consistent with our commitment to protecting democracy and opposed every move to derail the system despite Mr Zardari’s negative role,” Sharif said.
The PPP has seven out of 16 cabinet posts in Punjab. Sharif said the modalities to expel the PPP ministers from the cabinet would be worked out within next couple of days. Sharif has been under tremendous pressure from party leadership and PML-N supporters to part ways with the PPP in the Punjab. It will now rely on the support of a breakaway group of nearly 43 members of the aprovincial assembly from the rival PML-Q. The group labels itself as “Unification Bloc” and was allotted separate seats in the House by the speaker last week.
The PML-Q has the allegiance of 37 members and is likely to coalesce with 106 members of the PPP to form a formidable opposition.
President Zardari made a last-ditch effort to save the coalition for which Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held nearly two-hour long meeting with Shahbaz Sharif and some prominent PML-N leaders on Thursday but failed to persuade them to change their mind. Nawaz Sharif rounded up a series of meetings with leaders and activists of his party for nearly a fortnight and took the final decision at a meeting of the central committee here on Friday.
Sharif said his party would continue to play a positive role while sitting on opposition benches in the National Assembly to protect democratic process and help resolve dautning challenges faced by the people and the country. He hoped the PPP would do the same in Punjab assembly.
“We are not declaring any war against the PPP and would still hope it would improve governance and win support of the people during next two years,” he added.
The PML-N’s move leaves the PPP without a valuable source of patronage and power in Punjab, home to more than half of the country’s 180 million people. Its ministers had been lobbying in recent days to keep the alliance intact.
Asked whether he would like early elections as some in his party and the media are demanding, Sharif said such polls “were neither illegal nor unconstitutional” but did not answer clearly.
Raza Rabbani, a leading member of Zardari’s party, promised it would be an “effective opposition” in Punjab, holding the government there accountable.
“I want to make it clear that there will be no political instability from today’s act,” Rabbani told a news conference. “The federal government is stable. There is no question of midterm elections.”
mafzalkhan@yahoo.com
(With inputs from AP)

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