Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Monday said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is like a brother to the prime minister, asserting that all allies would remain a part of the PTI-led coalition government.

“We discussed in detail reservations of [allies] they remained part of the coalition government for the last three and a half years and we hope that they would continue to do so; politics, government and future is in our hands,” he said while addressing a news conference after a meeting of the ruling PTI core committee in Islamabad.

The PML-Q supported the PTI from the beginning and their support in future would be crucial. He said the PTI core committee had rejected the opposition’s ‘lotacracy’ and their efforts to bribe the PTI lawmakers ahead of the no-confidence motion session. He said the PTI MPs were being offered millions of rupees and all the party members had strongly condemned this unethical act.

The federal government on Monday once again approached PML-Q to discuss the matter of no-confidence motion and overall political situation. Federal minister Ijaz Shah visited the residence of Chaudhry brothers in Lahore, where he met Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Moonis Elahi. Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Chaudhry Hussain Elahi were also present.

Briefing media, Fawad said imminent failure of no-trust motion would definitely give a fatal blow to the opposition that was bent upon hatching conspiracies against a democratically elected government. “All the cards are with us and we will decide what might be the next move and whatever the next move should be. I assure you that it will be the last game of these ‘three jokers’ who will simply vanish from political scene after failure of the no-trust motion,” he said.

Flanked by PTI’s Additional Secretary General Aamer Mehmood Kiani, he said the opposition would repent its no-trust move, as Prime Minister Imran Khan had devised a comprehensive strategy to foil it. The entire party stood by the prime minister, said Fawad who expressed optimism that all the allied parties, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, would remain part of the PTI’s alliance.

Sharing details of the core committee meeting with the media, he said the entire party, including leadership and its parliamentarians, had reposed full confidence in the prime minister and resolved that only he could lead the country in these critical times.

He said the core committee had not only rejected the opposition’s bid to revive the horse trading culture, but also condemned their tactics of offering millions of rupee to the PTI’s legislators for shifting their loyalties in case of the no-trust motion.

He said the huge crowd at the recent public meetings of the prime minister had once again proved that not only the PTI was a federal party, but also PM Imran was the national leader.

By seeing such a huge crowd in the ‘Jalsas’ (public meetings) of the prime minister, the opposition parties’ leaders were trembling, he added.

Taking a dig at Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for illegally spending resources of the Sindh government, Fawad said his “short march” got a lukewarm response from Punjab.