LAHORE, Nov 25: Holding that disciplinary action would be taken against the PPP MNAs who have accepted ministries, Benazir Bhutto on Monday directed the remaining party legislators to resist government temptations and work according to their conscience.

Addressing a meeting of the provincial parliamentary party by phone at the residence of Mr Qasim Zia, she said she believed that those who had joined hands with the government would be branded disloyal and untrustworthy by their electorate when they visited their constituencies.

Before expressing her views on various issues, specially about the party’s future strategy in the Punjab Assembly, she elicited opinion from various legislators. Majority of those who spoke were in favour of the PPP joining hands with the PML-N and the MMA to form a formidable opposition.

The PPP chairperson said if her own partymen had not turned disloyal to help Mr Jamali form his government with a single vote majority, the regime would have been left with no option but to hold talks with the PPP and the ARD.

She denied reports that the forward bloc had been set up with her consent.

It may be pointed out that ten MNAs of the PPP had set up their forward bloc which has now been turned into a party named Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (Patriot). Rao Sikandar Iqbal, who is now defence minister, is the chairman of the new party while Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat and Naurez Shakoor are senior vice-chairman and vice-chairman, respectively.

To save themselves from any legal complications, the new party leaders have declared that Benazir Bhutto would continue to be their leader and they would work for the ideals of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Benazir said though such setbacks were a routine affair in politics, the forward bloc would not be able to cause any dent to the party.

About the future course of action, she said the party should maintain its identity to give the people a choice at the time of the next elections. At present, she said there was a king’s party, set up by intelligence agencies, and an alliance of religious parties with which the PPP had difference of opinion on several important issues.

The PPP, she emphasized, should remain in the field as a democratic force so that people not inclined to join hands with the remaining two had a choice for themselves.

She advised her party leaders not to go for short-term gains.

The self-exiled former prime minister said the PPP could cooperate with the PML-N on the ARD’s platform. But she made it clear that PPP’s cooperation with the MMA would be called nothing but opportunism.

She said the PML-N was honour-bound to cooperate with the PPP on the ARD’s platform.

Benazir said the MMA would get a chance to form its government in the NWFP and Balochistan. She predicted that soon the people would see ‘fireworks’ there and the PPP would not like to become a party to them.

She dismissed suggestions that the PPP was reluctant to join hands with the MMA because the former was pro-US. She said party’s support for democratic values did not mean that it was pro-US.

She was hard on Al-Qaeda as, according to her, it was bringing a bad name to the Muslims. “We want to keep ourselves at a distance from the MMA’s politics as it is dangerous for the country”.