ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: Yousuf Raza Gilani, who has been residing in the presidency since his ouster from the Prime Minister’s House in July, has gone back to his hometown Multan, according to sources in the presidency.

The sources told Dawn that Mr Gilani informed President Asif Ali Zardari about his decision to return home after expressing displeasure over removal of some top bureaucrats he had appointed.

The former premier is reported to have said: “I have conveyed to the president that many federal secretaries and heads of organisations I had appointed have been removed by incumbent Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.”When contacted, Haider Gilani, the son of the former prime minister, confirmed that his father had left the presidency and was now living in his house in Multan.

When asked whether his father had any differences with Raja Ashraf and President Zardari, Mr Haider said he had no knowledge about it.

But, he said, the former prime minister was in Lahore and would meet reporters on Saturday and talk about several issues and the political situation in the country.

Some of the senior bureaucrats eased out by PM Ashraf include his principal secretary Khushnood Lashari and press secretary Akram Shahidi, information secretary Taimoor Azmat, secretaries of water and power Waqar Masood and Imtiaz Qazi, railways secretary Javed Iqbal Awan, petroleum secretary Ijaz Chaudhry, National Highway Authority chairman Syed Mohammad Ali Gardezi and Capital Development Authority Chairman Farkhand Iqbal.

President Zardrai’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said he was not aware of Mr Gilani’s decision to leave the presidency. “He was in Turkey a couple of days ago. I don’t know about his decision to leave the presidency,” said Mr Babar.

A presidential suite of four bedrooms on the sixth floor had been given to Mr Gilani, who remained loyal to the Pakistan People’s Party and kept flouting Supreme Court’s orders about writing a letter to Swiss authorities for reopening corruption cases against President Zardari.

Earlier, Mr Gilani had decided to live in Islamabad Club but, according to media reports, changed his mind because of security concerns.

All security protocol provided to Mr Gilani, including his security staff, have been transferred to Prime Minister Ashraf.