ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani would soon meet President Asif Ali Zardari and formally invite him to address a joint session of the two houses of parliament, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

Under Article 56(3) of the Constitution, former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf was supposed to address the joint session immediately after the February 18 elections, but he did not do so.

The prime minister had said at a meeting of the parliamentary groups of the ruling coalition last week that his first advice to the president after his swearing-in would be to address the joint session.

Sources in the PPP said that President Zardari might summon the joint session after his return from a likely visit to China, adding that the address might be delayed till after Eidul Fitr.

Meanwhile, PPP’s senior legislator Izhar Amrohvi told Dawn that a constitutional package prepared by his party and circulated among the coalition partners had become irrelevant after PML-N’s withdrawal and now a new package would have to be prepared.

This package, he said, might not be tabled in the next session of the National Assembly which was scheduled to hold its normal session from October 13.