Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari met Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan in Islamabad on Thursday to discuss the formation of a new government.

Zardari went to the Parliament Lodges, the residential complex for members of the Senate, to meet Khan, whose party is expected to play a key part in efforts to form the new government as it performed well in the North West Frontier Province in Monday's general election.

The ANP bagged 10 national assembly seats in the NWFP, where it also emerged as the largest party in the provincial assembly. It has won 18 seats in the 51-member provincial assembly and could form the provincial government with the PPP, which won seven seats, and the independents.

Zardari is set to meet PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif later in the day as part of his efforts to put together a 'national consensus' government.

After ruling himself out as a prime ministerial candidate, Zardari has said he will work with all democratic forces to form a consensus government. As part of this initiative, he established contacts on Wednesday with leaders of the All Parties Democratic Movement, which boycotted the polls.

Zardari has also said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which backed Musharraf, could be included in the new government at the centre. The MQM has won 19 seats in the national assembly or lower house of  Parliament.