Islamabad - Prime Minister Imran Khan is all set to keep engaging his PTI-led coalition partners to create conducive conditions for smooth sailing of the ruling alliance, sources said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister is feeling more comfortable after he smoothly got passed the second budget of his government and has decided to keep engaging the coalition partners for more stability in completing the agenda of his government.
Parliamentary sources acknowledged that some problems with the coalitions had cropped up during the budget session, but the Prime Minister had managed to overcome them. “Now situation will be more stable within the PTI ranks and file and its relationship with the coalition partners”, knowledgeable parliamentarians of the ruling PTI confided during background discussions.
They are of the view that despite problems with some coalition partners the Prime Minister had decided to keep engaging all of them including the estranged allied parties the BNP and PML-Q.
Some members of the party rejected the negative criticism of the opposition parties regarding the dinner the Prime Minister had hosted in the honour of the coalition partners last week at his Banigala House.
“The opposition parties were trying to create wedge between the PTI leadership and its coalition partners but they miserably failed”, said a senior PTI leader and MNA hailing from the Khyber Pakhtunkhewa requesting not to be named.
Akhter Mengal BNP and PML-Q, crucial coalition partners of the PTI did not attend the Prime Minister’s dinner, causing a perception that PTI would be not be able to get the budget passed.
However, the Prime Minister managed it well and got the budget approved comfortably. The Prime Minister soon after last week’s dinner held a series of meetings with the coalition partners and with MNAs of his party and got the results in his favour.
From now onwards, Prime Minister has drawn a clear roadmap to ensure that both PTI and its coalition partners work smoothly and without any embarrassment, sources asserted.
They believed that Prime Minister would start consulting PTI MNAs and coalition partners not only to help resolve their problems but would also take them on board about the forthcoming Local Government elections.
At the same time, the committee constituted by the Prime Minister and headed by the Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak has been assigned the task to continue its engagement with all the coalition partners for smooth working of the ruling alliance.
Meanwhile, the sub-committee to develop comprehensive Term of Reference (ToRs) encompassing all the issues relating to Balochistan is likely to hold its first meeting next week.
The PTI’s government is interested to win back its former coalition partner Balochistan National Party[Mengal] and address the reservations of Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawabzada Shahzain khan Bugti with the help of this parliamentary committee.
Both the parliamentary parties from Balochistan (BNP-M) and JWP are annoyed with the federal government for not fulfilling promises and pledges made to them about Balochisan.
Balochistan National Party[Mengal]has even distanced itself from the federal government. BNP- M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal , at the floor of the house, had announced to leave its alliance with the federal government.
The senior members of the ruling party [PTI] had also made failed attempts to convince BNP-Mengal last week, but the members from the national party voted against the government in the federal budget. The ruling party member also held a series of meetings with JWP’s chief to assure him for addressing his reservations very soon.
Sources said the four members of the sub-committee under the Convenership Dr. Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination would chalk out planning to make ToRs in a week to present in the main committee.