- Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, Naseer Khan and Nasir Saeed Khosa among candidates
- Fawad Ch invites PML-N for consultation on caretaker set-up in Punjab
LAHORE: Outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Sunday announced that both the PTI and PML-Q had finalized three candidates – namely: Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, Naseer Ahmad Khan and Nasir Saeed Khosa as their picks for the Punjab caretaker chief minister.
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was speaking to the media outside PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence after both the leaders held a consultative on the matter.
Sukhera is a serving bureaucrat, Khan is the former federal health minister and Khosa is a retired civil servant.
It is to be noted that Elahi had signed a summary to dissolve the Punjab Assembly. In a brief one-line advice addressed to Governor Balighur Rehman, Elahi said: “I Pervaiz Elahi, chief minister of Punjab, hereby, advise you to dissolve the provincial assembly.”
On Saturday, the provincial assembly automatically dissolved after Rehman refused to sign Elahi’s summary.
Elahi announced the names on Sunday night, saying that the selections were made by Imran himself.
He later also shared the names in a tweet, saying that the names would now be sent to Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman. He urged the opposition to “think with an open heart” and said that if it did, he could see consensus being reached.
During the media talk, Elahi was also asked whether the PML-Q was considering joining the PTI.
“We have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow. All our MPAs MNAs and party officeholders are coming for that and we will discuss [the matter] there,” he said.
“They (the PTI) have told us that ‘if you are absorbed into the party (PTI) then it will be good for you and the party’,” he said, adding that his son Moonis also felt the same.
He also said that the preparations for introducing a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were “100 per cent complete”.
Fawad Ch invites PML-N for consultation
Earlier in the day, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry invited the PML-N to consultation on the caretaker set-up in Punjab following dissolution of the provincial assembly.
“We want the PML-N to come up to table for consultation with PTI to install a consensus caretaker set-up in Punjab”, he elaborated and noted that his party will propose two names for the caretaker chief minister (CM). “If the opposition does not agree on the proposed names, the matter will be referred to the parliamentary committee and the election commission,” he added.
He further said that they would try to come up with a better name through consensus. Meanwhile, Fawad also said that party Chairman Imran Khan would not meet any defiant member, asking the latter to respond to the show cause notice to the party secretariat.
A day earlier, the Punjab Assembly was dissolved as Punjab Governor Baligh ur Rehman excused himself from signing the summary, saying he could not become a part of the process, ARY News reported on Saturday.
Taking to Twitter, Governor Punjab wrote: “I have decided not to become part of the process leading to the dissolution of Punjab Assembly.”
“I would rather let the Constitution and law take its own course. Doing so will not hamper any legal process as Constitution clearly provides a way forward,” Baligh ur Rehman wrote.
The development came after Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi obtained vote of confidence from Punjab Assembly during a special session of the provincial assembly in the wee hours of Thursday.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan chaired the session in which PTI leader and Member Punjab Assembly Mian Aslam Iqbal tabled a resolution expressing confidence in the Chief Minister.
As per details, 186 members of ruling coalition reposed confidence in leadership of Chief Minister while opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) boycotted the session.
FULFILLED COMMITMENT
Earlier today, Elahi said on Sunday that his party “fulfilled its commitment” to Imran by dissolving the provincial assembly despite conflicting statements by people in the “opposite camp” as he revealed the PTI offered his son Moonis the presidency.
In a press conference in Lahore, the former chief minister said that it was initially said that PML-Q would back out of dissolving the assembly.
“But we assured Imran that this was our commitment to him and we stood by it. They offered to give Moonis (Parvez’s son) the presidency but we refused because we didn’t want it to look like this was a trade.
“I told them we will look at these things later. There was no trade […] we did this (dissolve the assemblies) because we trust Imran and know that he is capable of leading the country,” he asserted.
Elahi went on to say during the upcoming polls, the PML-N would be hiding its face because it had been “completely exposed now”.
“This is the reason Nawaz has refused to return to Pakistan,” he said, adding that the PML-N supremo had realised that his party would be defeated.
“I stand by Imran’s statement […] We took a vote of confidence, now it is time for Shehbaz to take a vote of confidence,” the PML-Q leader said, referring to the PTI chief’s statement last night in which he had said that the prime minister will be “tested” through a confidence vote in a tit-for-tat move similar to the one he himself had faced as the premier in April.
Continuing, Elahi stated that when Shehbaz would have to undertake a confidence vote, cracks would appear in the coalition government.
“And you will see […] it will fall and then won’t ever be able to get back up.”
