Last month, the top leadership of PDM parties had traded barbs over Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan in a meeting after which the difference within the alliance became clear. Former president Asif Ali Zardari had told Sharif to return to Pakistan and lead the fight against establishment. Maryam Nawaz had then confronted Zardari saying that her father had been victimised by the government.
The ANP had recently quit the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) after the party was served show cause notice by PDM secretary general Shahid Khaqan Abbasi over the election of Yousaf Raza Gilani as opposition leader in the Senate. The show cause was also issued to Pakistan People's Party (PPP) whose Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reportedly tore the document during a meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) on Sunday.