LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz central leader Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Friday that forming the federal government was not the sole responsibility of the PMLN, but all parties reaching the parliament after the elections.

Therefore, “the PTI-backed independent members-elect should take the lead, and form the government in Centre. We would extend them felicitations”, he said in a post on his ‘X’ account late Friday night. He said no political party had clear-cut majority in the current National Assembly, and the “PMLN is not very fond of wearing a ‘crown of thorns’.

Earlier, there was a confusion after the PMLN and the PTI both announced that they were not interested in forming the government in Centre. “We should not make the federal government,” The party leaders telling the PMLN meeting, chaired by Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on Friday. They said Nawaz Sharif suggested that unprincipled demand of any party should not be accepted to form the federal government.

Sources said Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Ishaq Dar, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Saad Rafique participated in the meeting, besides Azam Nazir Tarar, Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Tanveer, Suleman Shehbaz and Malik Ahmad Khan.

The meeting participants suggested to Nawaz Sharif “we should not take the federal government. In Punjab, a government can easily be formed together with the independents.”

According to sources, Ishaq Dar said with the help of independents, the number of the PMLN in Punjab had increased to 154, and the provincial government could be formed easily.

The meeting participants said “we should focus only on Punjab”. Sources said some participants were of the opinion that the only purpose of taking the federal government was that the country was facing serious economic crisis, and the state needs to be saved.

Separately, Ahsan Iqbal said on Friday night that the party would form the government in Centre and make the country stable. Talking to ‘Jang’, he said Nawaz Sharif made it clear “we will not form the federal government by compromising on our principles. We will stick to our principles and ensure development of the country.”

Ahsan Iqbal said that in the meeting, chaired by Nawaz Sharif, it had been agreed that the PMLN would form the government in Centre, while the party had already acquired the numbers to form the government Punjab.