Budget 2021-22: Shahbaz Sharif accuses PTI govt of releasing 'fake' figures

ISLAMABAD: The government has released "fake" numbers in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2021-22, PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif said Monday.

Speaking in the NA, the PML-N president lamented that the poor were suffering from poverty while the government claimed Pakistan was on the path to economic growth and prosperity.

"If the country has seen growth, has only the elite and those residing in the palaces of Bani Gala availed that prosperity?" the Opposition leader asked amid ruckus from the treasury benches.

The PML-N president said poor people were starving to death in the country. Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Sharif said he wished those who gave examples of Riyasat-e-Madinah would pay heed to the dismal affairs of the "widows, orphans and the destitute".

Members of the Opposition, along with the PML-N president as well, thumped their desks as PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif attended the session for the first time since securing bail in a case filed against him for allegedly inciting people against state institutions.

Meanwhile, PPP leader Senator Sherry Reman said her party had reservations over the government's plans to hike the price of petroleum products.

The PPP leader said it was a joint plan of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and the federal government.

"Explain the intention behind proposing an increase in petrol prices only three days after presenting the budget?," she asked, adding that the government had dropped a petrol bomb on the people to overcome the petrol levy crisis.

Rehman said the people of Pakistan were already reeling from the inflation, adding that the government had "gifted" them with an additional hike in petroleum prices.