LAHORE, April 27: Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, president of the ruling PML, has alleged that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari are more interested in the withdrawal of cases against them than in holding talks on important national issues.

“So far they have not demanded that cases against leaders like Syed Yousaf Reza Gilani and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi be taken back. They are interested only in getting themselves cleared”, he said while talking to reporters here on Wednesday.

Chaudhry Shujaat said the “selfish thinking” of the PPP leaders became clear when they got bail for leaders and workers closer to them, who had been arrested for violating the law on April 16, leaving others called from other provinces at the mercy of circumstances.

He said he had directed the Punjab chief minister to set free all the leaders and workers who had come to Lahore from other cities to receive Asif Zardari.

Asked whether talks with the PPP were continuing, the PML president said such talks should not be given any importance as they were like direct and indirect negotiations the government held on various occasions with other parties. “It’s not like a day-to-day hearing of a case by a court of law. Sometimes the talks are on, some times they are not,” he said without clarifying the status of contacts between the two parties.

The PML president had alleged a few day ago that the PPP had tried to take over Islamabad using the crutches of the establishment after which the government had decided not to strike any deal with the party nor give its leaders any more concessions (dheel).

He said Asif Zardari was trying to get closer to the establishment through his soft statements. But, he said, the silence of Ms Benazir Bhutto on the subject was quite significant.

In his opinion, it was possible that at a later stage Ms Bhutto would distance herself from the statements being issued by her husband, calling them his personal views.

The PML president said the government did not want a confrontation with the opposition parties. Instead, he said, it wanted the atmosphere to remain peaceful till the elections in 2007.

Rejecting calls for early elections, Chaudhry Shujaat said there was not even the remotest possibility of mid-term elections. The existing assemblies, he said, would complete their tenure and in case the opposition parties tried to create any problem the polls might be delayed for some time. “The elections may be delayed, not advanced”, he emphasized.

He said the PML would contest the election in alliance with its coalition partners. However, he ruled out any electoral cooperation with the party of Ms Benazir Bhutto.

Chaudhry Shujaat said the PML and the PPP had ideological differences and the workers of the two parties would not let them forge an alliance. In response to a question, he said police deployed at Bilawal House for the security of Asif Zardari could be withdrawn without delay if a formal application was moved by the PPP for the purpose.