LAHORE, March 1: Alleging that independent MPs-elect are being forced not to join the PML-N by President Pervez Musharraf and the state institutions under his influence, the party has criticised the presidency for holding “illegal meetings” with the newly-elected representatives of the people.

Speaking at a joint press conference here on Saturday, PML-N provincial head Sardar Zulfikar Khosa and MNA-elect Khwaja Saad Rafiq alleged that millions of rupees were being doled out in “horse-trading” meant for preventing the PML-N from forming its government in Punjab where it is the largest single party in the house.

They accused the presidency of being partial by inviting the independent and PML-Q MPs-elect for a meeting to "threat, influence and woo" them for remaining loyal to the former ruling party. They alleged that the agencies under the influence of the president were playing an “illegal” role in this respect.

Claiming that the measures were aimed at forcing the PML-N leadership to change its stance in the centre (impeachment of the president and restoration of deposed judges), they said Mr Musharraf would fail to achieve his motive as leaders and workers of the party were in unison on the issue.

Warning the president against hatching conspiracies against democracy, they said if he did not heed the call, the party reserved the right to take all constitutional, legal and political measures against him. They claimed that the election results were engineered on 15 to 20 seats, but the party in the best interest of the country and for a peaceful transfer of power did not protest rigging.

But it did not mean that the ‘dead’ PML-Q was put into incubator to get some ulterior motives, they added.

The PML-N leaders said after making the armed forces controversial and damaging democracy, Musharraf was now launching an offensive on the people’s mandate and warned the powers that matter that the power of the masses also could be used to check his intrigues against democracy.

Answering a question, they denied that the party had accepted into its folds any MP-elect of any other political party, including the PML-Q. However, if the PML-Q MPs were rebelling against their leadership by forming forward bloc then it was a natural process as this faction of the League had never been a party, they said.

They told a questioner that the PPP, the PML-N and the ANP had nominated two members each to form a committee which would take up all important national issues to frame a joint strategy/solution, so it was wrong to infer that by avoiding to accept ministries in the centre the PML-N was reluctant to share responsibility for any unpopular decision(s).

Meanwhile, party president Shahbaz Sharif's spokesman Khwaja Amer Raza has warned the government servants allegedly becoming part of the ‘intrigues’ against the PML-N that they would be brought to justice (when the party took charge of the government).

In a statement, he has urged the presidency to read the writing on the wall and immediately transfer powers to the representatives of the masses who voted against his policies in the Feb 18 polls. He says the elements conspiring against elected democratic forces should refrain from their act as the nation knows how to defend its mandate.