Nawaz denies being invited by Gilani for Zardari's 'historic' Parliament address

Lahore, Apr.10 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has said he was not invited by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to attend President Asif Ali Zardari's 'historic' address to Parliament's joint sessions, as being claimed by some quarters.

Nawaz said had he been invited, he could have considered attending the joint session, The Daily Times reports.

He said he has no idea whether Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who had also skipped Zardari's address, was invited or not.

While some media reports said that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had personally invited Nawaz to attend the joint session, and the latter had expressed his inability to do so citing personal reasons, others said that the Sharifs were not invited.

National Assembly spokesman Mehboob Gurmani said only those who held official positions either at the Centre or provinces were invited and no former Prime Minister was invited.

"We only invited the governors, chief ministers, speakers of provincial assemblies and other dignitaries occupying senior positions," Gurmani had said.

Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also said that Gilani had not invited Nawaz for Parliament's joint session.

"The PML-N Quaid didn't receive any invitation for the presidential speech," Khan said.

Some PML-N leaders, who refused to be named, said the absence of Sharifs was a well-planned strategy of their party as it did not want to show solidarity with Zardari.

They said the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) remains the main political rival of the PML-N. (ANI)