LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that the government would hold by-elections if the PML-N resigned from assemblies.

“If the PML-N has courage it should resign from the assemblies, but let me tell you we will hold by-elections,” the prime minister said while talking to office-bearers of the Lahore Press Club at his residence.

He said that Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan should have read the Constitution before expressing solidarity with the judiciary. The prime minister said he was an elected representative of 180 million people of the country and only the parliament could send him home.

He said the PML-N had signed the Charter of Democracy and now it was talking about holding a long march against a democratically-elected government.

He said he would ask the Sharifs why they had forgotten the Swiss case at the time of signing the charter.

“How will Nawaz Sharif take on the Gilanis and Zardaris when he could not challenge a dictator,” he said, adding the Sharifs hoodwinked people by signing a 10-year agreement with a dictator and pledging not to take part in politics.

“Both Z. A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto took on the dictators and sacrificed their lives but never compromised on principles,” he said.

The PML-N was holding ‘small’ rallies, Mr Gilani said, adding that even his son could hold larger public gatherings.

He asked the opposition to table a motion of no-confidence against him and said it should not think about sending him home by illegal and unconstitutional means.

He said that bar councils had supported his stance.