ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: The Pakistan Muslim League-N which has parted ways with the ruling coalition at the Centre formally asked the Pakistan People’s Party on Saturday to quit the government in Punjab.

“The PPP should show dignity and play a role while sitting on opposition benches in Punjab as we have done at the Centre,” PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said at a news conference.

Mr Iqbal expressed concern over the character assassination campaign of Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, the party’s candidate for the presidential election.

The PML-N and the PPP had entered into an agreement on March 9 which is known as “Murree Declaration” under which the two parties had agreed to form coalition governments at the Centre and Punjab after PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari promised to reinstate the deposed judges within 30 days of the formation of the federal government.

However, the relationship between the two parties got strained after Mr Zardari failed to meet three different deadlines for the reinstatement of the deposed judges and as a result of it the PML-N finally quit the coalition on August 25.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had accused the PPP of violating another agreement signed by the two parties on August 7 when it nominated Mr Zardari as its candidate for the office of the president.

Mr Iqbal said if the PPP continued to be a part of the Punjab government, then it would be a contradiction of the understanding and people would criticise it saying that “the party wants to remain in power in any case.”

He declared that if the PPP still wanted to stay in the Punjab government, then it would be the PML-N to decide about it.

Mr Iqbal warned Punjab Governor Salman Taseer against making any attempt to destabilise the PML-N government in the province.

He asked the governor to show dignity and avoid creating a situation of confrontation.

He even asked Mr Taseer not to act like “hero of a Punjabi movie.”

The PML-N leader criticised the decision of Mr Zardari to contest the presidential election and said it would make the office of the president “partisan.”

He reminded the PPP that former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had always been criticised to lead the PML-Q while sitting in the presidency.

He said Aiwan-i-Sadr would become the centre of activities of one political party after Mr Zardari’s election to the office.

Mr Iqbal said that in the past democratically-elected presidents had resigned from the basic membership of their parties.

He gave examples of former presidents Farooq Leghari and Rafiq Tarar in this regard.

“Will Asif Zardari resign from the basic membership of the PPP after becoming the president,” he asked.

Mr Iqbal refuted the allegations being levelled by different PPP leaders that Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui had played an active role in the 1997 judicial coup resulting in the ouster of the then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

He explained that it was the full bench of the Supreme Court which gave a unanimous verdict that the chief justice should be appointed on the seniority basis. As a result of this decision, he said, Justice Sajjad Shah had to go.

Mr Iqbal said his party did not consider Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as rightful chief justice.

Meanwhile, a delegation of senior PPP leaders called on Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to discuss the strategy for the forthcoming presidential election and the possible future scenario in Punjab after the PML-N’s decision to quit the coalition.

Those who met the prime minister are: Leader of the House in the Senate Raza Rabbani, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, Labour Minister Syed Khurshid Shah and Attorney-General Senator Latif Khosa.

Sources in the PPP told Dawn that during the meeting, the prime minister directed the attorney-general not to issue “divisive statements” on political developments that could damage the party’s image.

Similarly, the sources said, the PPP leaders had finalised a plan to keep the party’s parliamentarians in Islamabad till the presidential election held on Sept 6.

The sources said the party had decided to organise different programmes to keep the members busy in the capital till the presidential election.