ISLAMABAD, March 9 The Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Senator Raza Rabbani has resigned from the federal cabinet after the decision of the Pakistan People's Party top brass to nominate Senator Farooq H. Naek for the post of Senate chairman.

On Sunday, Senator Rabbani quit as leader of the opposition in the Senate, a day after Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad resigned.

PPP sources told Dawn Mr Rabbani was apparently upset for not being nominated for the Senate position despite having run the upper house smoothly for years from both sides of the aisle.

The source disclosed that ANP chief Asfandyar Wali had broken the news to Mr Rabbani before the PPP announcement, leading the veteran PPP leader to quit.

Dawn spoke to Mr Rabbani about his decision, but he refused to comment on the matter.

Dawn also learnt that the federal information minister had tried hard to persuade Mr Rabbani to take back his decision.

People's Party chief Asif Zardari has yet to accept the resignation by Raza Rabbani.