Lahore    -     Federal Economic Affairs Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Punjab Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique have resigned citing ‘personal reasons’.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz Sharif have accepted their resignations and forwarded them to the President and the Punjab governor for approval.

Khwaja Salman was looking after the affairs of the health department though without any formal notification in this regard. Punjab government’s spokesperson Attaullah Tarar said that Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Salman Rafique had resigned from their official positions to run the election campaign of the four party candidates from Lahore.

“From tomorrow, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Salman Rafique will be campaigning in the by-elections of party candidates in Lahore. The purpose of the resignation is to avoid violation of the code of conduct of the Election Commission during the campaign,” he said in a statement.

Party sources said that the two politicians would be reinducted in the federal and provincial cabinets after the by-elections.