Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken serious notice of reports of a ‘forward bloc’ emerging within the party and directed Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter, official sources told Daily Times.

Sources said that Shahbaz Sharif has contacted Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and some other senior ministers and conveyed them the prime minister’s directions regarding keeping the party united. “In the current political scenario, party unification is must as any divide would benefit the opposition. Do not take any step that makes the situation more difficult,” sources quoted Shahbaz Sharif having told Dar.

The disgruntled parliamentarians from the ruling party on Saturday handed over their charter of demand bearing the signatures of 84 MNAs to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Afzal Khan who held talks with them at the National Assembly and assured them that their demands would be met according to their wishes.

“Ministers should behave in good manner with elected representatives; GST should be reduced on all agriculture inputs; mark up should be reduced on agricultural loans,” the disgruntled group demanded.

Earlier in the morning, this disgruntled group was absent from the House and the government was again defeated by the opposition on the issue of quorum. However, after talks with the federal minister, they returned to the House and took part in the passage of demands for grants of various ministries. Sources said that Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting later in the evening and reviewed demands put forward by these parliamentarians. It was decided in the meeting that a mechanism would be evolved to implement the incentives announced by the government for the farmer community.