LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has rejected allegations levelled by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that his province was being deliberately deprived of natural gas.He said there was no discrimination among provinces as far as gas loadshedding was concerned.

Mr Gilani said he had offered to take the issue of gas to the Council of Common Interests to clear rumours about discrimination because his meetings with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were not the proper forum to resolve the issue.

Referring to the sacking of PPP ministers from the Punjab cabinet, the prime minister said he did not expect the PML-N to do that. Despite that, he said the PPP would not hit back and would support the PML-N on an issue-to-issue basis.

He said Nawaz Sharif should remember that it was the PPP that made him eligible to contest for the office of prime minister for a third time.

Mr Gilani said the opposition had the right to express desire for mid-term polls, but the country could not afford elections in the present situation.Referring to the ‘unification bloc’ of disgruntled MPAs of PML-Q in Punjab supporting the Shahbaz government, he said he was against horse-trading because that would take the country back to the 80s and 90s when political forces were engaged in ousting each other’s government by hook or by crook.

He said the PPP government had adopted the 10-point reforms agenda of the PML-N and would continue to implement it as part of its (government’s) manifesto.

He said the Raymond Davis case would not be allowed to affect US-Pakistan relations, adding that the government and the people were united on the issue. He said the Americans had been told that the matter was in court and would be decided by it.