SAHIWAL: The Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) was consciously barred from forming government in Punjab after the 2002 and 2008 elections by the then establishment, because they feared revival of the party in the province.

PPP Punjab Secretary General Hasan Murtaza said this while addressing a party workers` convention here at the residence of Gulam Farid Katiya, ex-federal minister and a member of the central executive committee on Tuesday evening.

He argued if the PPP was allowed to form government in Punjab no one would have stopped its revival in the province.

Rejecting the allega-tion that the party has turned pro-establishment, Murtaza said the PPP had never been the establishment`s party and `they never owned us`.

About the party`s alliance with the PML-N, Murtaza said for the PPP it had always been difficult to forge a political `coalition` with Nawaz League.

He said the Feb 8 election produced a hung parliament, having three major parties -the PTI, PML-N and the PPP and any two could join hands to form the government.

`The PPP first contacted the PTI [with an offer to form government], but its leadership refused. Then we were left with no choice but to collaborate with the PML-N.

He said there were some commitmentsregarding power sharing in Punjab with the PML-N while entering coalition, but unfortunately `N` did not honoured its commitment.

Murtaza said the PPP leadership has formed `Provincial Task Committee for Organisation`, a forum to hold consultations with the party`s diehard workers about its revival in Punjab.

He alleged that the PTI is working on foreign agenda and wanted to weaken the state and its institutions, adding that the foreign funding case was a proof of its links outside the country.

He claimed that the PPP had the most politically conscious workers in Punjab, but it needed an organisation to collaborate with such workers.

He said the PPP was a pro-farmer party andduringitstenure theygot good prices for their crops like sugarcane and wheat, regretting that the existing agriculture policy wa s harming gr owers in Punjab and Sindh.

PPP Punjab Information Secretary Shahzad Saeed Cheema, Mian Misbahur Rehman, district presidentZakiChaudhryand Gulam Farid Katiya also spoke.