Punjab Assembly opposition leader Raja Riaz Ahmed said on Wednesday that there was no harm in consulting the PML-N but that the PPP did not need the party’s votes for electing the next prime minister.
Talking to the media outside the Punjab Assembly, he said since the PPP believed in the politics of reconciliation, its leadership always kept its door open for dialogue. He said the next prime minister will be from the Pakistan People’s Party.
He stated that the party’s parliamentary committee, which had already been summoned, will decide about the next premier. He added that the coalition partners were fully on board with the process of electing the next prime minister.
Riaz said the Nawaz League had been limited to become a regional party and that the politically sane people will reject it in the coming elections.
He blamed the Punjab chief minister of backing the elements who attacked the PPP leaders’ houses under the pretext of load shedding. Today, he said, the province had been paralysed completely and to divert the people’s attention from its failures, the government was attacking the houses of the PPP leaders.
About the fate of the Seraiki province, he said with departure of former premier Yosaf Raza Gilani, the creation of the province was imperative.
He said President Asif Ali Zaradri was committed to establishing a separate province in south Punjab.
The PPP, Riaz said, always respected the courts and had, therefore accepted the Supreme Court’s decision in Yusuf Raza Gilani’s case despite having reservations.
Acknowledging the sacrifices made by former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani for the promotion of democracy in the country, he said Gilani had proved himself to be a diehard worker of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. “The PPP workers are happy over his loyalty with the party and the Bhutto family,” he added.
