23 February,2009 06:28 PM IST | | PTI
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has extended an olive branch to his former ally PML-N after its chief Nawaz Sharif accused President Asif Ali Zardari of working against the interests of his party-led government in Punjab.
Gilani telephoned Sharif's brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and gave him a categorical assurance that the federal government will not support any "undemocratic move" to "dislodge or undermine" the provincial government.
During the call made on Sunday, Gilani told Shahbaz that the fears of the PML-N were misplaced as no one is trying to "dismantle the Punjab government".
He said "any hasty decisions and actions, based on miscalculation", could cost the democratic endeavours of all political parties dearly.
Gilani, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, said he believed in a "policy of consensus, reconciliation and mutual respect for each other's electoral mandate".
The premier's assurance came a day after Sharif lashed out at Zardari and accused the President of trying to get him and his brother disqualified from contesting polls through cases filed in the Supreme Court.
"I don't want to name anyone, but Zardari should not insult us through a governor or try to get us disqualified (from contesting polls) through cases in the Supreme Court," Sharif had told a meeting of the PML-N general council.
Sharif and his brother have been engaged in a war of words with Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who is a close aide of Zardari.
A case related to the Sharif brothers' eligibility to contest polls has been dragging in the Supreme Court for months. Sharif was barred from contesting last year's general election and subsequent by-polls because he was convicted in a criminal case filed against him after his government was deposed by former army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf in 1999.
