Daily Times

Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar Friday accepted the resignation of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Following the acceptance of resignation, the Punjab cabinet has also been dissolved. Sarwar sought approval from Prime Minister Imran Khan before taking his final decision, says a news report quoting sources. The governor has summoned a session of the Punjab Assembly on Saturday (today) to elect a new leader of the house.

Earlier, Sarwar left for the federal capital to seek Buzdar’s approval. A discussion regarding CM’s resignation was held in the capital in light of the ongoing political situation. Imran Khan instructed the governor regarding Buzdar’s resignation after he briefed the premier about his meeting with the outgoing CM.

Sarwar also informed the premier about his meeting with the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Pervaiz Elahi and informed him of the number game ahead of voting on the no-confidence motion on April 3. On March 28, Buzdar had tendered his resignation after the joint opposition submitted a no-confidence motion against him in the Punjab Assembly. According to Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, Imran Khan had nominated PML-Q’s Elahi for the post.

PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi had confirmed that the post had been accepted by Elahi.

“Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi meets Prime Minister Imran Khan. All issues were settled in the meeting. PML-Q expresses confidence in PM and announces support. Chief Minister Usman Buzdar tenders his resignation to PM. Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to nominate Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as the new Chief Minister of Punjab,” Habib wrote on Twitter.

Elahi needs at least 186 votes in the 371-member house to be elected as chief minister. Meanwhile, in a bid to have at least these many lawmakers on his side, Elahi got in touch with the PTI’s disgruntled Jahangir Tareen group. There were reporters that he had also approached another disgruntled PTI group known as the Cheena group.

He also stepped up efforts to garner the support of disgruntled PML-N lawmakers in the provincial assembly. According to the report, multiple PML-N lawmakers, including Niaz Khan and Faisal Niazi, had called on Elahi and assured him of their support.

The PML-N has 165 lawmakers, the PTI 183, PML-Q 10, PPP seven, independents five and Rah-i-Haq Party one in the provincial assembly. Of the 165 PML-N MPAs, four of them have defected and formed a group under Jalil Sharaqpuri, and have already been expelled from the party. If the Tareen group doesn’t back Elahi, he would need at least three independents, Rah-i-Haq’s one and over 15 PML-N defectors.

Meanwhile, the opposition in the Punjab Assembly has yet to finalise its candidate for the post of the new chief minister. PML-N MNA Javed Latif earlier told a private TV channel that Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz or disgruntled PTI MPA Aleem Khan might be the joint opposition’s candidate for the provincial chief minister. However, another PML-N leader said as Shehbaz Sharif was nominated for the prime minister’s office by the joint opposition, it did not want to give two top posts to ‘one party and one family’ in the post-Imran Khan scenario.”