Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif Friday rejected budget 2020-21 presented by the federal government a few weeks ago and agreed to call an all-parties conference next week to discuss the evolving political situation in the country.

Bilawal telephoned former Punjab chief minister and inquired about his well-being, days after the PML-N presented tested positive for Covid-19. The PPP chairman also inquired about the health of PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The two leaders also discussed the contemporary political situation of the country and agreed to summon an APC next week. Both the leaders expressed their reservations over the budget and rejected it.

Soon after the budget was announced earlier this month, the PML-N president had predicted that inflation and unemployment would surge as a result of the budget.

PPP leader Sherry Rehman had termed the budget 2020-21 ‘non-transparent’, saying that the opposition’s input should have been sought on the document. On Tuesday, Shehbaz said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘confused’ statements about the coronavirus outbreak show that he is in a state of denial which, he alleged, is leading to a rise in the deaths due to the deadly disease. The PML-N president said that the people were paying the price of this ‘confusion’ with their lives.

Shehbaz Gill, the premier’s aide on political communication, was quick to respond to Shehbaz’s assertions. Gill had said that the people were not paying for any confusion, rather they were paying for “your corruption and looting of the country”.