LAHORE, Dec 24: A key Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator on Wednesday asked Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to give his party 40 per cent share in the provincial government or ‘face the music’.

The warning came from MPA Qasim Zia, former president of PPP Punjab.

Zia told Dawn that the chief minister had ‘single handedly’ been running the show and keeping with him at least ‘13 ministries’, which he should hand over to legislatures.

“My party MPAs and workers are not happy with the current arrangement. What we are demanding is the just share in the provincial government,” he said. He said his party had conveyed to Sharif that it helped him form the government and it could also topple it. “Though no deadline in this regard has been given to him, the party can go to any extent if its demands are not met,” he added.Earlier, Zia, who is also president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, told a news conference at the Hockey Stadium that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had been denying the PPP its ‘just share’ in the provincial government for the last one year. “The provincial government is in fact a one-man show.” He said the PPP believed in the independence of judiciary and it restored even those deposed judges who were considered to be against the PPP.

Zia said criticism of the governor was unnecessary because he had been working within constitutional limits.

A few days ago, PPP Punjab President Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan also demanded ‘due share’ for his party in the provincial government.

PML-N Punjab President Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa strongly reacted to Zia’s statement. He told Dawn that Zia should better use his energies to improve the affairs of hockey.

Describing his statement as ‘irresponsible’, Khosa said the chief minister was not answerable to Zia because Senior Minister Raja Riaz was representing PPP legislatures.

“All matters with the PPP in Punjab are being settled in consultation with Riaz. In case some of them are not sorted out, they are routed to the chief minister,” Khosa said.