LAHORE - A small group of ‘estranged’ MPAs from the ruling PTI called on Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday and reposed their complete trust in his leadership.
Those who called on the chief minister included Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena, Sardar Shahabuddin Khan, Sardar Muhammad Mohayyudin Khan Khosa, Ejaz Khan, Muhammad Ejaz Hussain, Muhammad Amir Anayat Shahani, Ghulam Ali Asghar Khan, Colonel (R) Ghazanfar Abbas Shah, Taimoor Ali Lali, Bilal Asghar, Muhammad Ahsan Jehangir and Gulraiz Afzal Gondal.
They discussed political as well as party matters, according to an official release which also said that they apprised the CM about matters relating to their constituencies. The CM assured them that their genuine issues would be resolved saying that assembly members were his lieutenants and any hurdle in their genuine issues was intolerable.
The CM added the province was facing a difficult economic situation due to coronavirus but the public related problems of the assembly members would be resolved on a priority basis. “I will always take assembly members along, the CM assured. The meeting lasted for three hours.
It may be recalled here that at least 15 PTI legislators from central and south Punjab districts had formed their separate group in Punjab Assembly in January this year to press hte government for acceptance of what they had then called their “legal and constitutional demands.”
Many at that time jumped on to the conclusion that these MPAs might form a forward bloc any time in a different political scenario. But this did not happen. The group members later turned out to be friends of the chief minister and had several meetings with him for resolution of problems of their respective constituencies.
“We have no hidden political motives to achieve. We just want to resolve problems of our constituencies by becoming a one voice”, the group leader Ghazanfar Abbas Chheena had told The Nation at that time.
These legislators are apparently not happy with their own government which they think is not responsive to the problems facing the people in their constituencies. They also resent the slow pace of development work in their constituencies and government’s apathy in resolving their problems. But they have not so far made any move to destabilize the government.