ISLAMABAD: PPP stalwart Senator Raza Rabbani resigned on Monday as federal minister for inter-provincial coordination in protest against his party leadership’s decision to make PML-Q a partner in the government, a source in the ruling party told Dawn.

The source said that Mr Rabbani had handed over his resignation directly to President Asif Ali Zardari after a one-to-one meeting with him at the Aiwan-i-Sadr soon after 14 PML-Q ministers had taken oath.

Mr Rabbani, the source said, had told the president that he would feel personally uncomfortable sitting with the PML-Q people against whom the party had struggled during the military-led regime of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

He also felt that joining hands with the PML-Q and particularly accepting Faisal Saleh Hayat and Raza Hayat Hiraj in the cabinet would send a negative message to party workers who held them responsible for the misery of late party chairperson Benazir Bhutto when they ditched the party after winning the 2002 elections on PPP tickets.