MNA-elect and a central leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar has expressed the hope that coalition between the Pakistan Muslim League-N and PPP will stay long.
Chaudhry Mukhtar, who was elected MNA on PPP ticket in February 18 elections by defeating his arch political rival and PML-Q President, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, in his home constituency, maintained that the stock exchange was on a positive move after getting majority by the PML-N and the PPP.
"It shows that the investors are optimistic about the coalition. They know that the policies of the coalition government will be in the interest of people of Pakistan", he observed while giving an interview to a private TV channel.
Mukhtar, a prospective candidate for the prime minister slot in the next government, said that the finance minister would be from among the people of Pakistan and not the one like Shaukat Aziz, who had no pain for the people of Pakistan.
"The days of the Q-League are numbered as its members are leaving it. Three members of the Q-League have contacted me for joining the coalition government. We are not going to pay them for joining us, which is certainly a new tradition," he added.
He recalled that Chaudhry Shuja'at had presented a bill that any losing candidate could not become Senator. So, Chaudhry Shujaat was not eligible to become Senator as the law was intact, he pointed out. To a question about the demand for reinstatement of the judges, he said that the PPP and PML-N would decide this issue with majority in the parliament so that no parliamentarian could raise any objection to it.
"I think, more than two-thirds of the parliament will agree over the point," he said. The judiciary, he further said, should also have financial independence so that it could not look towards the Federal government. "If they have to save Pakistan, they will have to cooperate on the issue," the PPP leader observed.
To another question about solving the economic problems of the common man, Chaudhry Mukhtar said that his party would tune the policies, and added the policies followed by Shaukat Aziz were one-sided as he only strengthened the banking sector.
"We will provide subsidised foodstuff to common people and for this purpose, we have no need for extra funding as we can encourage industries to provide subsidy and in exchange, we will write off their tax", he elaborated. He said the caretaker set up had no right to introduce new policies at this juncture.