The government can complete its five-year tenure very easily if I come to a compromise with the opposition parties, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday.
The country’s economy has been affected because of the coronavirus, the premier told MNAs of the PTI and coalition parties after a dinner at PM House.
PM Khan also criticised the PPP in his speech and said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s party has destroyed itself by moving away from its ideology. He added that his party, however, is standing with its ideology and will always stand by it. The prime minister said that he was under immense pressure to hide the sugar inquiry report but he chose to publish it. He added that a former military dictator failed to make public inquiry reports into sugar crises twice in his government because of the pressure.
Before the dinner, the premier met coalition partners at PM House and listened to their demands and reservations. PM Khan also took the partners into confidence over the budget 2020-21 and the country’s economic condition.
The MQM, JWP and GDA attended the dinner hosted by PM Khan but PML-Q leaders declined due to “party meetings”. Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed didn’t attend the dinner because of his health issues. He was recently released from the hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus.
Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) announced on Sunday that it would not be attending the dinner at Prime Minister Imran Khan’s residence Bani Gala, following Balochistan National Party-Mengal’s (BNP-M) rejection a day ago.
The PML-Q is an ally of the government but will not be attending the dinner, maintained the coalition party in its rejection of PM Imran’s invitation.
The PML-Q spokesperson confirmed that the federal government contacted the party leadership and invited them to the dinner. However, said the spokesperson, the party leaders will not be attending due to their busy schedules.
Nonetheless, according to the spokesperson, the party will be voting for the government’s side of the aisle for Budget 2020-21.
The PTI-led government has been facing the ire of lawmakers currently due to its decision of a record hike of 26 percent in the prices of all petroleum products. Earlier, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) also announced its refusal to attend the dinner at Bani Gala.
BNP-M President Sardar Akhtar Mengal said that the dinner is for allies of the ruling party, and his party is no longer an ally so they won’t be attending.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari telephoned Mengal to discuss the current political situation in the country. Both the leaders reportedly agreed on a joint strategy for the upcoming year’s fiscal budget.
BNP-M announced its decision to quit the PTI-led coalition government at the Centre on June 17, saying that the government failed to keep its end of the bargain. The party has four votes in the National Assembly and one in the Senate.
During his announcement on the floor of the National Assembly, Mengal pointed out that his party had signed two agreements with the PTI – the first one when the government was formed after the general elections in 2018 and the other at the time of the presidential elections.
However, he regretted, the federal government had failed to implement even a single point of the agreements, chief among which was the recovery of missing persons.
The number of National Assembly members from the leading party and coalition partners reduced to 180 after BNP-M parted ways with PTI.
PTI has 156, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has seven, PML-Q has five while the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has three members. Two independent members, one each from the AML and JWP, are part of the government alliance as well.
The opposition has 157 members with 84 from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), 55 from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), 15 from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), one from Awami National Party, and two independent members, who are also a part of the opposition alliance.
According to parliamentary sources, four members from Akhtar Mengal’s party who have parted ways with the government alliance have not yet announced becoming a part of the opposition alliance. They remain on independent benches.
With the inclusion of BNP in the opposition alliance, seats of the opposition party will jump to 161.
