Amid growing resentment among the allies, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday met former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto. Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique and PML-N leader Malik Ahmad Khan attended the meeting. The meeting came after allies complained of lack of development funds during the National Assembly session on Monday and said the government was not fulfilling the promises made to them at the time of no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan. Aslam Bhootani and Khalid Magsi, both from Balochistan, as well as Osama Qadri from Sindh said the government had not allocated funds for their constituencies. They said the allies were now being ignored.
“We joined the coalition out of respect for [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif and [former president] Asif Zardari. But now, no one listens to us,” Bhootani said. He added that during the previous government’s tenure, “we were not respected but we got funds”.
“Now that their work is done,” Bhootani continued, referring to the success of the no-confidence motion, “the allies are forgotten”. He maintained that Zardari and Shehbaz “respect us but do not give us the development funds”, says a news report. Earlier, PPP Information Secretary Faisal Kareem Kundi had claimed that the PPP was only giving its advice to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while the decisions, financial or otherwise, were the prerogative of the government. Kundi said if the PPP came to power at the Centre, only then it would take decisions of its choosing. “The PPP is limited to an advisory role only. The party gives advice when and where it is needed. The decisions are prerogative of the prime minister and his party,” Kundi said when asked why the PPP was not able to turn the economy around.
