Garnering support for passage of RGST Bill: some MPs admit Prime Minister approached them

Some of the parliamentarians are shy in openly admitting that the Prime Minister has contacted them to cast vote in favour of Reformed General Sales Tax Bill 2010, whereas a few admitted that they were approached by the Prime Minister.
However, parliamentarians from the allied parties of the government are not clear and did not precisely respond to the query whether they would vote for or against the bill. They said it would be decided before the end of the on-going session.
In an exclusive talk with Business Recorder, Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour from Awami National Party (ANP) said before the meeting of Senate Committee on Finance he was not contacted by any treasury member of the National Assembly or Senate regarding the RGST Bill. However, he said his party would take decision over the proposed legislation when this committee would complete its deliberations on the bill. This discussion would help in deciding whether his party is going to approve or disapprove the bill, he added.
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Senator, Kalsoom Parveen, said that the government was under immense pressure of IMF to get the bill passed from Senate's standing committee. "It is not possible that the government has not contacted any of the committee's members, who represent different political parties in the Committee as the government desperately needs their support for the passage of the bill," she remarked. However, she said, her party has already rejected imposition of any new tax.
Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed of Jamat-e-Islami said that no government official or ruling party in the past persuaded him to vote in favour of the new bill. "I heard that the government has contacted some members of the committee, but I did not receive any message or call from the ruling elite regarding this," he added. However, he confirmed that he had received an invitation card for dinner from President's House but it did not make much difference.