ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday initiated steps to avert a major crisis after estranged party colleague Jahangir Khan Tareen launched his likeminded group of party lawmakers in the National and Punjab Assemblies. According to informed sources, the Prime Minister swiftly reacted to the development and kept himself abreast of the ground situation from the Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser as well as Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar.

The sources said that the Prime Minister also discussed the upcoming budget with the NA Speaker which political observers believed is the golden political opportunity for Jahangir Khan Tareen Group to bring Imran Khan’s government under pressure to get the next budget passed smoothly in the National and Punjab Assemblies.

In a related development, the Prime Minister has also assigned a key task to party’s central leader Senator Saifullah Khan Niazi to rush to Lahore and keep him updated on the situation in the Punjab Assembly.

Knowledgeable sources also confirmed a late night meeting of the Prime Minister with some senior party colleagues at Bani Gala to further discuss the damage control strategy.

A number of party leaders and Ministers including Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Omar have expressed their support to the Prime Minister through their twitter handles.

A day earlier, Jahangir Khan Tareen launched his like-minded Parliamentary groups in the National and Punjab Assemblies at a dinner he had hosted for his supporters in Lahore.

PTI MNA Raja Riaz will be the Parliamentary leader of Tareen’s like-minded group in the National Assembly, while Sardar Saeed Akbar Khan Niwani will be the Parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly.

Raja Riaz claims support of eight PTI MNAs in the National Assembly while Niwani claims support of more than 20 MPAS in the Punjab Assembly.