LAHORE: Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Saturday that departure of nine Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislators for the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) was a mere ‘drama’, DawnNews reported.

The minister, who is a member of the PPP, said in a statement issued from Lahore that the move was a clear violation of the Charter of Democracy (CoD).

Kaira declared that the people who had jumped ship to PML-N were the very culprits, who a year-and-a-half ago had attempted to manipulate Senate elections. He added that the main opposition party was not pleased with President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Lahore, which is why ‘this drama’ played out.

The information minister said that the PPP would respond to this undemocratic step in a democratic manner. While accusing the PML-N of violating the CoD, he pointed out that changing PPP lawmakers’ loyalties was evidence of this.

Nine PPP MPAs announced earlier on Friday that they were joining the PML-N, after a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Four of them are from South Punjab.

They include Nishat Ahmed Daha, Syed Jamil Shah, Rana Babar Hussain and Abbas Zafar Hiraj from Khanewal district, Rana Munawwar Hussain and Sardar Kamil Gujjar (Sargodha), Javed Alauddin (Okara), Qaiser Sindhu (Gujranwala) and Uzma Zahid Bukhari, an MPA elected on a seat reserved for women.

Her husband Samiullah Khan, a former PPP MPA from Lahore, is also among those who have joined the PML-N.

Two PML-Q MNAs, Dewan Ashiq Bukhari, from Multan, and Pir Aslam Bodla, from Khanewal also joined the PML-N on Friday.