LAHORE, March 22: PML-Q central leader Pervaiz Elahi has nominated PML Punjab Secretary-General Zaheeruddin as opposition leader and Ahmed Yar Hiraj as deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, he said the nominees for speaker and deputy speaker would be named after the date for the Punjab Assembly session would be announced.

He said he would continue to act as parliamentary leader in the province and guide parliamentarians regarding the assembly proceedings. He said his party had gracefully accepted the public mandate after the general election, but unfortunately efforts were under way to change the same mandate where the PML-Q achieved success.

He regretted that both Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif had once again started ‘illegal’ and ‘undemocratic’ practice of horse-trading, "insulting the mandate given by the masses". He said the Sharif brothers had learned nothing from the past and their policy would mar democracy and democratic institutions.

Answering a question, he said the party was considering initiating legal proceedings under Article 63 (A) of the Constitution against the MPs who were switching loyalties. A three-member committee, comprising Senators S.M. Zafar, Dr Khalid Ranjha and Waseem Sajjad, had been constituted for the purpose, he added.

He said the turncoats, under the law, could neither accept any portfolio nor vote for the money bill and if they did so, they would be disqualified. The law was not implemented on turncoats when the PML-Q was in power on the grounds that neither the Constitution nor parliamentary rules defined parliamentary leader, the person authorised to move disqualification plea.