Lahore: In a desperate move to shore up support for his tottering government, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday met top leaders of the two opposition PML-N and PLM-Q parties, as clamour mounted for his resignation.
The attempts to reach out to the dominant opposition party, the Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N and its rival PML-Q, came in the wake of its key ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) withdrawing support, a development that threatens to bring down the PPP-led government.
But, despite Gilani's efforts to reach out to the two largest opposition parties in parliament, there were no indications that either the PML-N or the PML-Q would back the government which is at least 12 members short of a majority in the 342-member National Assembly.
The PPP-led coalition was plunged into crisis after the MQM withdrew its support last night.
The MQM, which has 25 lawmakers and was the second largest party in the coalition, had played a key role in propping up the government.
Gilani first met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, and appreciated the PML-N's decision of not supporting any move to derail the government.
An insider in the PML-N told that Gilani sought an assurance from Sharif that his party's 91 parliamentarians would vote for the PPP in case a no-confidence motion is tabled in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament.
The insider said Sharif did not make any promise in this regard and told Gilani that the PML-N would discuss the matter in a meeting of its central executive committee to be held on Tuesday.
Senior PML-N leader Saad Rafiq said his party would neither give a vote of confidence to Gilani nor introduce a no-confidence motion in parliament.
"Prime Minister Gilani should seek support from those who were part of the government for three years," he said. The beleaguered prime minister then sought support from Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain-led PML-Q, a party that had once been described by President Asif Ali Zardari as the "qatil (killer) league".
Gilani telephoned Hussain and then went to meet the former premier at his residence in Lahore.
Talking to the media before the meeting, Hussain said the PML-Q would take all decisions in the interest of the country and democracy. The PML-Q has 50 lawmakers in the National Assembly.
Zardari had held the PML-Q responsible for the 2007 murder of his wife Benazir Bhutto as it had allegedly failed to provide adequate security to her.
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