As uncertainty over formation of the next government persisted, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which emerged the largest party in the general elections, today asked the Musharraf regime to invite it to form the new administration amid reports that the beleaguered President was finalising an “exit strategy for himself.”Leaders of the PPP, who have been discussing possible formation of a coalition government with other opposition parties, said the administration had not yet invited it to form the government.The matter was also discussed during PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s meeting with newly elected lawmakers from Balochistan province, the leaders said, asking the government to convene a session of the new National Assembly.Former premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N and the PPP last week announced plans to form coalition governments at the Centre and in the provinces.Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif today called on Zardari. “My meeting is a continuation of the earlier meeting between the PPP and PML-N on forming the government. We had agreed to have further consultations and to discuss the emerging political situation,” Asif said. “We have decided we will work together and respect each other’s mandate.”A close aide of President Musharraf, meanwhile, told London’s Sunday Telegraph that the embattled leader, whose allies were routed in the polls, “is considering stepping down in days” to avoid a showdown with the newly elected Parliament.But a Presidential spokesman denied that Musharraf was considering quitting.The Musharraf aide told the British daily that the President “has already started discussing the exit strategy for himself.”“I think it is now just a matter of days and not months because he would like to make a graceful exit on a high,” the unnamed aide was quoted as saying.Setting the stage for a possible confrontation with the next government, Pakistan’s caretaker administration plans to print a new edition of the Constitution containing amendments made by Musharraf during last year’s emergency that have been rejected by the victorious opposition parties. The move has made newly elected lawmakers wary as they may have to take oath under the Constitution with amendments.
