They’re perpetually waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ever since the rumours of the cabinet reshuffle started, all cabinet members have been constantly watching over their backs. Even the staff of some of the ministers (as per these ministers) aren’t taking them seriously for the same reason.
One such minister is development czar Khusro Bakhtiar who might see a fate worse than merely losing his portfolio (to Asad Umar, as per rumours) but actually ending up behind bars, given the spirited NAB investigation him.
Another former heavy hitter Aleem Khan wants in on the provincial cabinet. He also feels that he was almost forgotten by the party while he was behind bars.
In a development that has surprised many, the Punjab CM, widely believed to be an automaton at the beck and call of the PM, actually refused the Kaptaan when he asked him to induct Aleem Khan in the Punjab cabinet.
Given the doormat that Buzdar is widely believed to be, this just might have been a scripted pantomime for Aleem Khan to see.
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There is a trend amongst the strand of the upper political class to take newborn babies to Chaudhry Shujaat for him to say the ‘azaan’ in the infant’s ear. Interesting, given how Shehbaz Sharif was also preferred for this duty by some in the past.
The Gujarat grandee’s stock is rising. Apparently, the chief specially called him when he was critically ill in Germany. The Kaptaan didn’t, of course. Do we detect some jealousy there?
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Clarification: in the last White Lies column, we erroneously referred to a particular businessman as a former ICI man, which was not the case. The error is regretted.
