The PML-Q deferred its decision to part ways with the PPP after its chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain received a telephone call from President Asif Ali Zardari before the latter’s departure for Turkmenistan, sources in the two parties said on Wednesday.

It was after the PML-Q leadership’s decision to suspend seat adjustment talks with the PPP that President Zardari talked to Chaudhry Shujaat and expressed his desire to meet him on his return from Turkmenistan where he had gone to attend the Nauroz festival, they said.Confirming the telephonic contact, PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Syed said: “President Zardari’s assurance of a speedy resolution (of issues) on his return has prevented a rupture in the ties between the two parties.”

Talking to Dawn, Mr Hussain said the PML-Q had called off the seat adjustment talks with the PPP because there was a “deadlock jeopardising their alliance”.He said resumption of talks depended upon the outcome of a meeting between Chaudhry Shujaat and President Zardari expected next week.Mr Hussain said the PML-Q had suspended the talks in protest over what he called persistent attempts by the PPP to woo its strong and potential candidates and cause defections in the PML-Q ranks.

He said it was surprising that on one hand the PPP called the PML-Q its ally and, on the other it was trying to damage it by causing defections in the PML-Q.The PML-Q sources said the party leadership had complained to President Zardari several times that Punjab PPP president Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo was trying to cause defections in the PML-Q. The president told the chaudhrys of Gujrat that he had stopped Mr Wattoo from making such attempts.

However, they said, the PML-Q leadership was now perturbed over reports that Faryal Talpur, the sister of President Zardari, had also been contacting its potential candidates.During a meeting of seat adjustment committees of the two parties at Governor House in Lahore on Tuesday, the PML-Q members had expressed reservations over efforts made by the PPP leaders to entice its election candidates.