PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said that the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is ‘no democratic movement’ without the PPP and ANP, a private TV channel reported.
Speaking at a media briefing in Mardan, the PPP chairman said that for the past one year, the opposition alliance had been ‘crying resignations’. “Why don’t you resign then?” he asked, going on to add, “You are not resigning and wish to contest the elections as well.”
He said that if the PDM wishes to follow PPP’s stance in the matter, they ‘might as well join PPP’. He said neither does the party wish to rejoin the alliance, nor has it turned in a request for the same. “We tore up your show cause notices. Why are you saying again and again that you will not take us back?” he asked the PDM leadership. “We do not wish to come back. Thank you very much,” he added.
The PPP chairman, however, clarified that PDM is a political alliance, and although there may be political differences, “we are one in the parliament”. “We have given the Leader of the Opposition the authority to make decisions on behalf of all of us,” he said.
Bilawal said that he had been telling ‘revolutionaries’ that had they turned in their resignations from the assemblies, they would have left the field wide open for PTI. “We will not make the mistake of boycotting the Azad Kashmir elections,” he said.
Responding Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry’s remarks whereby he said the Supreme Court should ensure the implementation of Article 140-A in Sindh, Bilawal said: “Fawad Chaudhry and the government should refrain from dragging the Supreme Court into politics.”
Separately, Bilawal Bhutto criticized the budget proposed by the federal government a day earlier, calling it an ‘economic attack on Pakistanis’. “Prime Minister Imran Khan has made his anti-people and anti-poor agenda clear through the budget,” Bilawal said in a statement issued by Bilawal House Media Cell. “PTI will not be permitted to “play with the nation’s future … PPP will not allow Prime Minister Imran Khan to conduct an economic massacre of the people,” he added.
“An entire year has passed but the condition of the people did not change … a budget was presented but the poor are unable to feed themselves,” Bilawal said. “If there is historic inflation, joblessness and poverty, how can the budget be (termed) people-friendly,” he questioned.
Reiterating that Prime Minister Imran Khan is ‘deaf, dumb, and blind’ to the plight of the average citizens, he said, “The year might have changed, but the conditions of the people remain the same. A poor man’s house is still being deprived of necessities.” He said while the government is busy presenting ‘false facts’ through the Economic Survey 2020-21 and claiming that the nation is flourishing, government employees protested against inflation outside the Parliament House. “People are now retaliating because they are aware of the puppet prime minister’s empty promises,” he said. “They know it is Imran Khan’s habit to talk big and do nothing. He is incompetent and has completely failed to provide relief to the common man,” he added.
Highlighting how the facts tell another story, Bilawal said that an anti-people budget “was expected” from the PTI government. “If the inflation rate, unemployment, and poverty figures have been historic during Imran Khan’s tenure, how can the budget be public [friendly]?” he questioned.