LAHORE: As a power-sharing deal between the People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q is maturing, the PML-N has indicated that it may save the PPP-led government from “blackmail of its present and would-be allies” during the approval of the forthcoming budget.

Sources told Dawn that a message to this effect had been conveyed through a go-between from Gujrat.

A PPP leader from Gujrat had called on senior PML-N leaders here on Sunday, seeking some 'serious steps' from the latter, anticipating the situation 'worsening' with the PPP-Q League deal entering its final phase, the sources said.

The visitor, who had been assured of full support against the Chaudhrys of Gujrat in the next elections whether he contested from the party's platform or as an independent, was told on Sunday that a final decision would be taken after internal consultations, especially with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

The PPP leader was informed on Monday that the serious steps sought by him would soon be taken.

The government was told not to be panicky about the budget as the opposition party would extend its help through parliamentary procedure in case the MQM refused to support the finance bill. It would also not hit hard at the government within and outside parliament, the sources said.

The sources quoted the PML-N leaders as saying that the party would not offer its shoulders for removal of the PPP government.

According to a PML-N leader, not only a couple of anti-Q League PPP leaders but also some members of the trading community are playing the role of a go-between to bring closer, or at least make less hostile against each other, the PPP and the PML-N leaderships.

By lending its support to the PPP, the PML-N would be able to check the PPP-PML-Q electoral alliance, curb the chances of return of the turncoats in Punjab to the Q League and thus save its provincial government a well as “foil attempts of the intelligence agencies to establish a national government of technocrats”.

None of the senior PML-N spokesman was available for comments on the reported development.