ISLAMABAD – The fate of the unification bloc regarding a separate parliamentary party status in the Punjab Assembly will be decided after February 23, the cutoff date given by the PML-N to the PPP government for implementing Nawaz Sharif’s 10-point agenda.
This was decided in a meeting of PML-N central leaders chaired by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. “The PML-N central leaders decided that if the PPP failed to implement the 10-point agenda by February 23 and the PML-N opted to oust its ministers from the Punjab cabinet, the party could also give go ahead to its speaker in the provincial assembly to notify unification bloc’s separate parliamentary party status,” the source said.
The source added that the PML-N chief decided in consultation with his party leaders that in case the 10-point agenda was implemented by the PPP government in time, the unification bloc would not be given a separate parliamentary party status in the provincial assembly, as the PPP would continue to be a part of the coalition government in Punjab.
Around 44 MPAs from the PML-Q unification bloc on February 2 submitted a request to the Punjab Assembly speaker seeking an independent parliamentary party status for the group. It was the second such attempt by the unification bloc after their similar requisition was rejected in April 2009 by the speaker. Unification bloc leader Atta Maneka said that the Punjab Assembly speaker had so far given no reply to the bloc’s application.
“The speaker will act according to needs of the PML-N, but this time we will not tolerate if we are duped by the PML-N,” he added. He said the unification bloc had no concern with the PML-N’s deadline given to the PPP for implementing the 10-point agenda. “We are fighting for our due right,” he said, adding that the PML-N would face consequences if it again parried unification bloc as it did in April 2009.
Maneka said the PML-N’s politics was based on doctrine of necessity.
