LAHORE: PTI leader and former minister Hammad Azhar Wednesday said that party Chairman Imran Khan will announce “future line of action” during his address to workers and supporters at a gathering planned to be held outside Punjab Governor House on Thursday (today).
The coalition parties, especially the PML-N and PPP have been engaged in serious efforts to avert the ‘possible’ dissolution of Punjab Assembly since PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has announced he will dissolve the assembly on Friday (Dec 23).
Imran had last week said that his governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will dissolve provincial assemblies.
Talking to media Hammad Azhar claimed that attempts were being made to “snatch and dishonor” the PTI mandate. “Our MPAs are getting telephone calls and money offer under a well-thought-out plan by the “Zardari and company” for toppling the PTI Punjab government and averting the dissolution of the assembly as announced by Imran Khan”, he claimed.
Subsequently, the coalition government had sprung into action to prevent Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi from dissolving the Punjab Assembly.
In this connection on Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat and ministers Salik Hussain and Tariq Bashir Cheema to discuss the prospects of CM Pervaiz Elahi to join hands with the PDM.
Meanwhile, former president Asif Ali Zardari continued consultations on the future of the provincial legislature with Shujaat. The federal ruling alliance has its eyes set on the 10 PML-Q lawmakers in Punjab as the tally may swing in its favour if at least seven of the MPAs are ‘persuaded’ to change their loyalties.
According to a party insider, both Zardari and Shujaat have been working on these lines. Referring to these developments in a media talk flanked by PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry in Lahore today, Azhar said that the public would not stay quiet anymore.
“This time, the nation will show what it wants […] The people will not become silent spectators. Enough is enough.
“Imran has decided that we will collect a big crowd outside the Governor House to prevent them [the Pakistan Democratic Movement] from taking any unconstitutional steps,” Azhar said.
He went on to say the PTI chief will address the gathering at 5pm and announce the way forward.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry claimed that PTI’s female members were “offered money from Zardari sahab’s party”.
“The MPAs told Imran Khan that they got calls in Multan and Lahore […] they were told to abstain and remain missing from the vote of confidence [against Elahi], but they rejected that too,” he said.
In a double-edged move on Monday, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman had asked CM Elahi to obtain a vote of confidence from the Punjab Assembly today, while PML-N and PPP lawmakers submitted a separate no-trust resolution against him in a bid to bar him from dissolving the assembly.
However, the PTI had said that Elahi would not seek the vote of confidence and termed the governor’s order “illegal”.
Commenting on the matter in today’s media talk, Chaudhry reiterated that the governor’s order was “unconstitutional”, adding that if “Rehman crosses his limits, he can be charged under Article 6 [treason] of the Constitution”.
