LAHORE - Former president and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that his party was ready to sit on the Opposition benches if it failed to make government after the coming elections.

Talking to media persons at the residence of party leader Samina Khalid Ghurki where he had gone to offer his condolence over the death of her mother, the PPP leader also dropped a strong hint that he would have no objection making a coalition government [after the elections] with the support of the PTI.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”, he said, adding, that the last Senate election was an example of it.

“We will look for the option of entering into a coalition alliance with political parties after the election results”, he further stated. 

Referring to a statement by PTI chief Imran Khan that his party would form the next government with the help of independents, Zardari said: “These people are in hurry but we are not. We will decide about it when the time comes”. Zardari said that if the PPP could not form the next government it would sit on the Opposition benches.

“It is not a new thing for us to sit on the Opposition benches. We have been in the government, in the Presidency and have experienced everything related to the government business”, he remarked.   

Responding to a question about Nawaz Sharif’s statement about the “Aliens” conducting the coming elections, he said that PML-N chief was in a better position to define who the “Aliens” were.

“It is because Mian Nawaz Sharif is the creation of “Aliens” and has reached at this point of his political career with their support and backing. General Hameed Gul and other actors were hand in gloves with Nawaz Sharif in the Changa Manga episode. In 1988, Nawaz Sharif made a political alliance against us in connivance with the Aliens”, he recalled the history of political alliances made against the PPP in the past.

“It is these “Aliens” who have been used against us in the past,” he said, adding, that he had heard that the Supreme Court had reopened the Asghar Khan case. The PPP Co-Chairman also observed that Nawaz Sharif had always harmed democracy, while the PPP made sacrifices to strengthen it.

“PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto sacrificed their lives for the sake of democracy while he himself remained in prison for 11 years for the same cause,” he maintained, adding, that Nawaz Sharif had damaged democracy as he acted like a Mughal Prince while in power.

 To a question, he admitted that there was a visible difference in the style of politics practiced by his son Bilawal and his own version of politics.

“Bilawal’s politics is that of a young man who is 29-year old. On the other hand, my politics is that of a person who is 60-year old,” he explained implying thereby that Bilawal had little experience of politics at this age.

Answering another question, he said that elections will be held on time. “They should be held on time”, he added.

To a question about his recent outburst against Mian Nawaz Sharif, he said that he was quoted out of context.

“It is the media which misinterpreted my statement,” he said.