PDM leaders vow to hinder Parvez Elahi’s bid to become Punjab CM n Coalition setup won’t succumb to any pressure from PTI chief for holding early elections.
LAHORE - Unfettered by the PTI’s thumbing victory in Punjab’s by-elections, the ruling alliance led by the PML-N Tuesday decided not to go into the elections before the expiry of the federal government’s constitutional term and take measures to put the economy on the right track.
The PDM leaders who gathered here at the Model Town residence of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also decided to hinder Ch Parvez Elahi’s bid to become new chief minister of Punjab.
This important huddle was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and second line leadership of the PDM parties. Khalid Maqbool and Wasim Akhtar represented the MQM while Tariq Bashir Cheema, Iftikhar Hussain and Shahzain Bugti spoke for their respective parties.
The coalition leaders had lengthy discussion over the emerging political scenario in the wake of PTI’s landslide victory in the recent by-elections on 20 Punjab Assembly seats. They also debated the pros and cons of holding early elections and formation of new government in Punjab.
Sources privy to the meeting told The Nation that the PDM leadership expressed a unanimous view that they should not go into the early elections as the public opinion was against the current dispensation due to inflation and rupee’s downward slide against the dollar. The entire leadership agreed that results of early elections would be no different from those of the recent by-polls.
The meeting also devised a strategy on how to block the onward movement of the PTI chief Imran Khan and decided to fight tooth and nail against all his moves on the political chessboard. The leaders also decided to take all the measures needed to fix the dwindling economy without fear of political backlash.
Sources said that the PDM leadership also mulled a strategy to stop the biggest province from going into the hands of the PTI. They considered this option despite the PML-N leaders conceding defeat in the by-elections.
“The federal government will complete its term. Let there be no confusion about it”, the PML-N’s firebrand Saad Rafique announced during a press conference after the meeting. He was accompanied by leaders of the coalition parties. He made it clear that the government will not succumb to any pressure from the PTI chief for holding early elections. The federal minister said the government will not hesitate taking tough decisions for economic turnaround in the remaining period. Saad also disagreed with widely held view that recent by-elections in Punjab were a measure of political parties’ popularity or otherwise. “Punjab by-elections are in no way a measure of popularity or unpopularity of a party”, he asserted.
Giving a positive spin to his party’s decisive defeat in the by-elections, Saad Rafique said that the PML-N and the allies had jointly won five Punjab Assembly seats which actually belonged to the PTI. “These 20 seats are the ones which the PML-N could not win in the 2018 elections. There were independent candidates on these seats and also those of the PTIin 2018”. Saad Rafiq maintained, and added: “In general, our vote has increased by 39 percent”.
“In today’s meeting, the question was also raised as to why the Election Commission was not deciding the foreign funding case”, he told the media, and also sought an early decision on this case.
“Foreign funding case pending for years should be decided”, he said. The federal minister also expressed PDM’s disapproval of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63-A which ruled that votes of defectors in any election in the Assembly will not be counted. We have reservations about the court decision on the interpretation of 63-A. We believe that this decision is against the spirit of the Constitution and should be reviewed. The Supreme Court Bar review petition has been pending in the Supreme Court for several days. Our appeal is that this review petition should be heard by the full court and a decision should be given as soon as possible”, he said, adding that the division of powers was clear in the constitution. “Legislation is the right of parliament, it should not be interfered with”, he affirmed.
Taking jibes at the jubilation in the PTI’s camp over victory in by-elections, Saad said: “What is this all the celebration about? Not only will this storm be pushed back its further movement will also be blocked,” he averred.
Talking about the PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s onslaught against institutions and the political parties, Rafique said that Imran Khan was plotting against the institutions to make them controversial.
“The PTI wants the chief justice of its choice, chief of army staff of its choice, prime minister of its choice, media of its choice”, Saad remarked.
Reacting to Khan’s criticism of the Chief Election Commissioner, Saad said: “Those who got five seats [in by-elections] are praising the Election Commission and the one who got 15 is raising hue and cry. If you can give all these seats to him, the so-called Amirul Momineen would only then be satisfied”.
Saad called Imran a misguided person who had created a group of misguided people found everywhere. “He is the person on whom the demons descend”, he mocked the PTI chief.
He alleged Pakistan was on the brink of economic bankruptcy due to Imran Khan’s four years of misrule.
“We would have liked to retreat and save our politics, but we put a necklace of thorns around our necks in the wider interest of Pakistan. We knew that landmines were planted but we did not run away from our country”, he observed.
Meanwhile, the PPP-P president Asif Ali Zardari dashed to PML-Q chief’s Lahore residence here to meet with Ch Shujat Hussain immediately after leaving Model Town where he attended the PDM meeting.
Ch Shujat’s son and MNA Ch Salik Hussain was also present in the meeting. Both the leaders discussed the current political situation as Zardari sought his party’s backing for the federal government.