LAHORE, May 13: PML-Likeminded Punjab president Atta Manika withdrew his resignation after a meeting with Humayun Akhtar.

He had announced parting ways with the PML faction after it did not take him into confidence while making electoral adjustment with the PML-N.

The PML-N under the agreement will give 11 per cent quota in allocation of seats in both national and provincial assemblies. The PML-Likeminded candidates will also contest on the PML-N’s election symbol.

Mr Humayun had to call on Mr Manika after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani telephoned him (Manika) from London and ‘offered him a place’ in the PPP. Governor Latif Khosa also called on him at his residence and tried to persuade him to say goodbye to the PML.

Mr Manika was in the forefront of carving out a forward bloc of the PML-Q before the Sharifs ‘smartly’ gave its rein to Dr Tahir Ali Javed. Manika had also asked his forward bloc known as unification bloc colleagues to demand a Senate seat from the PML-N leadership.

“I had reservations with my party for not taking me onboard in its agreement with the PML-N,” Manika told Dawn.

Asked if he was not willing to his party’s alliance with the PML-N, he said that was not the case. “I was the president of the Punjab chapter and I should not have been kept out of the parleys. The issue has been resolved now.”

The PML-N reportedly did not want Manika in the PML-LM delegation that came to the Sharifs for agreement as it might give an impression that the unification bloc was also onboard.

The PML-N hasn’t yet given any ‘written assurance’ to the unification bloc members. “We did not demand written assurance or agreement from the PML-N leadership as we trust its words (about getting tickets in next elections),” said unification bloc president Dr Tahir Ali Javed.

He said the PML-N had awarded tickets to the bloc members in the by-polls in Faisalabad and Jhang. He said the PML-LM had made a ‘good deal’.