Daily Times

LAHORE: Amidst the rope-pulling between Jahangir Khan Tareen and Governor Chaudhry Sarwar for a prominent role in Punjab, the PTI leadership ruled out any possibility of change in the office of the CM for the moment.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Mr. Tareen ruled out the possibility of changing Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in the wake of rumours doing the rounds for the past few days.

Against this backdrop, the PTI parliamentary party meeting on Monday reposed its complete trust in the leadership of Usman Buzdar.

“We will be standing beside you in the journey of public service,” various party legislators said in unison and added Mr Buzdar had proved to be a good chief minister, who listened to their issues with patience.

“We are lucky to have a chief minister like Buzdar,” a party MPA remarked.

However, although the chief minister gained trust of his party men, the fissures within the PTI continue appearing as Governor Chaudhry Sarwar and ‘his rival’ Jahangir Khan Tareen spent a busy day in Lahore to muster support for their assertive role in running the province.

Governor Sarwar held a meeting with the chief minister as well as Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid MNA Chaudhry Moonis Elahi besides federal education minister Shafqat Mahmood and party’s additional general secretary Ejaz Chaudhry discussing political scene ahead of his proposed meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday (today) to strengthen control in Punjab.

The opposition too is pressurizing the incumbent government in the face of economic turmoil and governance glitches that bother the public in general.

Mr Tareen is also holding meetings with PTI ministers, legislators, leaders as well as bureaucracy to collect his cards to play in Punjab, where different power centres are already at work. He also reversed the transfer of his favorite bureaucrats.

In an attempt to counter the theories that Mr Tareen will take over Punjab, Sarwar was forced to say, “Asien aithey Aaloo Choolay vaichan nahin aae” (We are not here to sell chickpea curry with potatoes), adding that difference of opinion always exist in every political party.

Since Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Governor Sarwar are against the Jahangir Tareen group for long, Mr. Qureshi at a press conference in Governor’s House early this month had also chided Mr. Tareen for his presence in official meetings and termed it a contempt of court.

Mr. Tareen reacted saying he had stood by Imran Khan’s side through thick and thin and would continue to do so till his last breath. “What others may say for their own strange reasons does not concern me,” he had said without naming Mr Qureshi.

Mr. Tareen, surprisingly, was seen making an appearance at the Lahore Zoo alongside CM Buzdar, who had gone to attend a special ceremony on the arrival of tigers and cheetahs, gifted by prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoom.

As reporters asked Mr. Tareen whether Mr. Sarwar was being stripped off his governorship, “I can only laugh at this question,” he responded.

While commenting on the governor’s remarks about Mr. Tareen, the chief minister rebuffed the comments as “mere joking” in a lighter vein.