LAHORE: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi does not enjoy the support of 186 members of the Punjab Assembly and will not be able to secure a vote of confidence from the legislature.
“We have the support of about 180 MPAs and can succeed in runoff elections,” said the chief of Punjab chapter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). “I will return to Islamabad after taking back the Punjab government.”
Talking to journalists here on Wednesday, the federal minister claimed that the honourable court gave relief to Pervaiz Elahi that came as a heavy cost to the people of Punjab as the coalition government of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) “committed corruption worth billions of rupees daily”.
He said that the people of Punjab are running from pillar to post to get flour at reasonable rates, for which the provincial government is responsible. He urged the court to decide the case at the earliest so that a “minority government” is removed from the scene.
In response to a question, Rana Sanaullah claimed that some PTI MPAs wanted to join hands with the PML-N but a decision of the apex court has barred their way. Now they (the PTI dissidents) are showing their resentment by staying away from the vote of confidence.
About a meeting between Suleman Shehbaz and Jahangir Khan Tareen, he said the two used to meet earlier as well. He said that Hamza Shehbaz is currently in London to look after his ailing mother.
When asked about an incident in which shoes were thrown at his vehicle, he expressed regrets over the treatment his party workers meted out to the person involved, adding that it is the PTI chairman who is responsible for intolerance in society.
Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Mohammad Balighur Rehman, while expressing concerns over the disregard of a ‘constitutional order’ of his, has said that since the chief minister has been unable to take a vote of confidence, the latter has lost his right to exercise executive powers in the most populous province of the country.
“It is the constitutional power of the governor to summon the assembly to require the chief minister to obtain a vote of confidence,” the governor said, adding: “I was quite satisfied that CM Pervaiz Elahi did not command the confidence of the house, and therefore, exercised my constitutional discretion to require the CM to pass the floor test.”
He remarked: “Speaker (of) Punjab Assembly has illegally disregarded the discretionary orders of my Constitutional office. Speaker has no powers to interfere in the constitutional powers of the governor; the act of the speaker... is illegal and unconstitutional.”
In his statement, the governor added, “Taking political matters to courts and involving them in political situation in Punjab is completely unnecessary. Chief minister is using the court order as a shield to escape the floor test.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023