Zardari eyes PPP’s ‘driving seat’ after general elections

• Former president calls Bilawal a ‘100%’ leader, says Aseefa to contest polls from Nawabshah

NAWABSHAH: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that he would put himself in the driving seat after his party is elected to power in this year’s general elections.

Addressing a political rally here on Sunday, he said that his party would sweep the 2018 elections from across Pakistan. He said that he would assume the main role in the PPP-led government to steer the country out of trouble.

“Our party will form the government after securing victory from throughout the country and I will sit on the driving seat myself and show how a country is run,” the former president said. He also said that the party was stopped from winning the elections 2013 through a ‘conspiracy.’

He said that an impression of PPP’s disapproval in Punjab was propagated by throwing this party out of the last general elections. “Threats are being hurled again. However, we will not stand down despite threats… we have survived martial laws,” he said.

“This time, we’ll contest the election with full preparation,” Zardari said. Criticizing the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said that former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was to be blamed for the ‘dismal situation’ in the country.

He said that national entities were causing losses and masses were being buried under heavy debt. “We will put the country back on the path of progress and prosperity and fill the national kitty after forming the government,” he said.

The former president said that his son Bilawal Bhutto, chairman of the party, had become a ‘100%’ leader and his daughter Aseefa Bhutto would contest the elections from a Nawabshah constituency.