The Punjab PPPs departure from the provincial Cabinet finally provided the logical conclusion to the attempt by the PPP to remove the PML-N from the government by imposing Governors Rule in the province, and also provides the logical end to its withdrawal from the federal Cabinet over the judges issue. This brings to an end to the attempt at a national government that started with the 2009 elections, at a time when the nation was still shell-shocked after the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto during the campaign, and by the impending return to party politics after the break brought about by the Musharraf martial law and the election that succeeded it, which was party-based, but where the two major parties lacked their leaders. Actually, the normal reasons for a national government were absent, for Pakistan was neither at war, nor did it face an exceptionally difficult economic situation. Though the economic situation was difficult, and though there had been a martial law, which provided the impetus towards the national government, this proved an insufficient glue to hold it together. The differences which drove apart the parties existed even before their break-up. The differences did not have to do with the handling of the crisis which called into being the national government, but with matters that had happened under the Musharraf regime. The judges crisis, over which the PML-N pulled out of the federal government, had started earlier, but the PML-N had not only campaigned on it, but had also considered it a core issue. When the PPP, which tried to protect the decisions of the previous government, seemed to baulk at this, the PML-N pulled out of the federal government. The present removal of the PPP ministers must be seen as another manifestation of federal politics having an effect on provincial politics. The PPP ministers were removed because the PPP did not show sufficient seriousness about the implementation of the PML-N 10-point agenda. It had presented this agenda after the PPP had approached it again, this time after its central government was on the verge of collapse. However, the PPP apparently used the PML-N not as serious support, but as a counterweight to the MQM, which held the fate of the government in its hands. The governments majority depends on the goodwill of the MQM. The PML-N agenda might have contained several measures for good governance, but it was seen by the PPP, as directed at the PPP Co-Chairman, also the President. Apart from the point about implementing the courts verdicts, against which the federal government was resisting to protect its Co-Chairman from the cases in which he was named, there were other points which seemed directed against the government and the President. It must be understood that the agenda was not left unimplemented to bring out the PPPs Punjab ministers, but because no one at the centre seemed pressed enough by their fate. In short, the President thought that the inconvenience he would face from the implementation of the PML-N agenda outweighed the inconvenience faced by the Peoples Partys provincial ministers being shown the door from the Cabinet. However, the PPP must count itself a loser. Though it has once been the largest party in the Punjab Assembly, in 1993, it has not obtained an absolute majority there since 1977, and has not had its Chief Minister there since then. In 1993, it may have had its own Governor in Chaudhry Altaf Hussain, and then Lt Gen (retd) Lehrasap Khan, it only supported Mian Manzoor Wattoo, now the Federal Kashmir Affairs Minister, as Chief Minister, and then Arif Nakai. The PPP has always been a strong contender for power in the Punjab province, coming in second in previous elections since 1988, when it was allowed to contest. With 107 MPAs in the House, when it decided to support the PML-N, there was a strong majority for the government, which had 278 members behind it in the House of 371, and thus a majority, which can only be described as overwhelming, of 93. Though the PPP forms a strong opposition, it is out of power, which seems to weigh heavily on the other members. It should also be noted that this is the only province where the PPP is in opposition, since it has its own men as CM in two, and a Cabinet presence in the third. The PML-N may have emptied its Cabinet and thus positioned itself better for the next general election, due in 2013 at the latest, but till the House is dissolved, the Punjab government will have headaches managing its majority. The ministry, led by Mian Shahbaz Sharif, will consist of the PML-N and the PML-Q Unification Bloc. These were the PML-Q MPAs, who were prepared to support Mian Shahbaz the last time the ministry was under threat, when the PPP tried to win over a majority in the House after the province came under Governors Rule. These are also members who hope for PML-N tickets at the next general election. Now the ministry will have the support of 200 members, thus giving it a majority of 30 or so. This cannot be described as razor-thin, and can even be described as handy, but it cannot be called heavy by any stretch of the imagination. To make matters complicated, to manage it there will not be one party organisation, but two. It may have to look at individual constituency problems at the time of the general election, but it should decide before then the fate of the PML-N MPAs in Balochistan, who are part of the PPP-led Raisani government there. The other parties are looking for an angle. The PML-N agenda is being studied as an indication of the PML-Ns future election manifesto, and the partys roadmap to good governance. If that is the case, and if the PML-N wins the next election, the President will not be re-elected, and whenever he becomes ex-President, will find himself at the receiving end of all the court cases he is now avoiding by the use of his office. That will be a repetition of what Asif Zardari has experienced so far, that is, court cases whenever the PML-N takes office. Another consequence of the dismissal is that that the PML-N high command has sent a sharp signal to the party cadres that it values the 10-point agenda. The PPP has said that it will not react, but there is little it can do. It is making the necessary moves to convert its ousted Senior Minister into the Leader of the Opposition, and this now provides both parties the opportunity to take the gloves off and carry on an active, no-holds-barred opposition, predicated on becoming the next government. The PML-N and the PPP have already fallen into the relationship of a government and an opposition at the centre. Now the relationship will be replicated, while reversed, in the only province where the PML-N rules. Perhaps most important, at least from the point of the next general election, is that the PML-N will no longer have the label of a 'friendly opposition. This is important, with the PML-Q, the Tehrik-i Insaf, the MQM and the APML of Pervez Musharraf all jockeying for position in the province.