Punjab Chief Minister:
Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) president and veteran politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday showed his support forChaudhry Parvez Elahi in the approaching election for the Punjab chief minister.
The election will be held on July 22. It is noteworthy that Shujaat is aligned with the ruling coalition within the Centre, and his son, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, could be a member of Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet.
In a policy statement issued by the PML-Q, Shujaat told that Elahi was the party’s candidate for the highest workplace, adding that people who won the mandate have the right to govern.
The PML-Q president distinguished that he had created similar statements multiple times in the past also.
In response to reports that Pakistan peoples party’s co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari had asked Shujaat to write down a letter instructing PML-Q MPAs to not vote for Elahi, Shujaat told that there was “no question” of sending a letter.
He aforementioned while referring to the election for the chief minister, he oughtn’t to clarify, that the answer to the country’s issues lies in not obtaining concern in cycles of counting votes.
Shujaat also told in his statement that Whoever succeeds in determining the issues of the poor can have completed his numbers in the true sense. He conjointly told that elective people ought to serve the folks.
Shujaat said the answer to the country’s issues was to either let the incumbent government keep for a year or more till the overall elections or hold fresh elections now.
The election for the Punjab chief minister will take place on July 22.
After the Supreme Court’s verdicts that defectors’ votes wouldn’t be counted within the election of the prime minister or chief minister and therefore the resignation of 2 PML-N MPAs, incumbent Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz lost most of the 371-strong house.
He is absolute to lose his position to Elahi once failing to win eleven seats to attain a majority in the Punjab Assembly wherever the joint opposition (PTI and PML-Q) currently has 188 members after the recent by-polls.
PTI and PML-Q combined meeting:
Separately, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Parvez Elahi met on Wednesday to debate the approaching re-election.
Former Punjab governor Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Mehmoodur Rasheed, and recently elective MPAs conjointly participated in the meeting, according to a press release issued later on.
Elahi noted that the joint opposition had the majority in the Punjab Assembly and vowed to defeat all efforts to abduct or harass MPAs.
For his half, Qureshi aforementioned the majority within the provincial assembly was standing with PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his appointed candidate.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Lahore city, Qureshi processed that his son Zain Qureshi wasn’t a contestant for speaker of Punjab Assembly or chief minister, adding the party had already named Elahi as a candidate for the position of the provincial chief govt.
He conjointly insisted that the PTI had the specified strength of MPAs to elect a new chief minister.
Coalition vows to ‘salvage’ Punjab Government:
A day earlier, the highest leadership of the ruling coalition all met in Lahore for an ‘introspective’ huddle, partitioning to save lots of the Punjab government at any value and announce consequent general elections once finishing the present assembly’s term until August 2023.
The coalition partners place all the stress on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in launching ‘concrete efforts’ and exploring all possible ways to save his son Hamza’s position as the Punjab chief minister from the combined PTI-PML-Q contender Elahi.
Leaders of most coalition parties – PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F – told PM Shehbaz to drag up his socks and, return what might, not turn over Punjab to the PTI-PML-Q while not a troublesome fight.
A participant in the meeting as having aforementioned that Hamza mustn’t resign. The coalition can explore ways to retain him as the CM at all costs.
Separately, PPP’s Zardari met Shujaat at the latter’s residence in Lahore city and reportedly sought he facilitate to save Hamza in the run-off election.
Shujaat’s son Salik Hussain and PML-Q leader Tariq Bashir Cheema are a part of Shehbaz’s cabinet.
The PML-Q has ten MPAs within the Punjab Assembly, and Zardari reportedly asked Shujaat to aspect with the ruling coalition.
