‘PTI MPs to quit’ if CM Parvez Elahi doesn’t take trust vote before 11th

LAHORE: As the date for the trust vote draws closer, an apparent rift has emerged between the PTI and PML-Q over the Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s vote of confidence.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan has tasked the party’s senior leaders to ensure that the provincial chief executive takes a vote of confidence before January 11 but Elahi has ruled it out, saying that Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman’s order for the trust vote is “illegal”.

PTI Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry says the party wants the chief minister to take the trust vote before January 11 as the Lahore High Court (LHC) will resume hearing Elahi’s petition against his dismissal as the chief minister on the day — and the coalition plans on showing the court that their CM has the house’s confidence, local media reports. However, after Elahi’s reluctance to take the vote, sources told Geo News Friday that the PTI chief has ordered the party leaders that they should ensure that voting takes place and if anyone creates hurdle in the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, then PTI lawmakers would resign from the house. Imran’s warning comes as Elahi, who had earlier said that he would back the PTI chief’s decisions, is now seeking to stay in office for a longer period than the former prime minister’s plans.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan has summoned the session for the house on January 9, which was earlier scheduled to take place on January 11. Although, the LHC had restricted the chief minister from dissolving the assembly, the Punjab governor said if Elahi takes the vote of confidence, then it was his prerogative to dissolve the legislative.

Problems have also seemingly arisen for the chief minister after independent lawmaker Syeda Zahra Naqvi said she was an ally of the PTI and not Elahi, with three members of the PTI also set to rebel against the party’s decision to back the PML-Q leader.

Meanwhile, commenting on the political atmosphere in the province, Elahi claimed that he says whatever he wants to the PTI chief and he doesn’t mind it. “Imran Khan doesn’t mind what I say because it later turns out to be correct,” the Punjab chief minister said while addressing a convocation at the University of Punjab.

He said there was nothing short in the decisions that Khan had taken. “Imran Khan is a leader who isn’t afraid or bends or gets sold. He is a true, upright man. But if there’s anything wrong, then I always express it in front of him,” Elahi added. The CM further said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, on the other hand, began the propaganda against him ridiculing his source of funding. “The PMLN takes dollars abroad from here, while Ishaq Dar brings it back. The federal government has unleashed a storm of inflation which refuses to stop,” the provincial chief executive said.

Meanwhile, Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad Friday lashed out at the ruling alliance saying that Imran Khan had single-handedly buried the politics of 13 political parties that were part of the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), reports the local media.

He said the PTI chief had told him in yesterday’s meeting that his party would not remain a part of this “corrupt system”.

“If the dissolution of the assemblies lingers on, then I will direct my members to leave the assemblies,” Rashid quoted Imran as saying during the meeting. He said the Sharif and Zardari families had failed to resolve the issues of the masses “as they only know the art of cheating”. He also expressed the hope that the new elections will be held soon “to rid the country of the corrupt gang”.

As Elahi refuses to get the vote of confidence, media reports claim that the PTI has conveyed to him that in case the matter of the dissolution of the provincial assembly lingered on, their MPAs would quit the government as well as the legislature.

Meanwhile, a PTI senior leader also confirmed that the message had been conveyed to the Punjab chief minister about quitting the government.

“In the Punjab Assembly, now the issue is not between the PTI and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM); it is between the PTI and PML-Q,” he added.

The PTI leader claimed that his party had the required number of MPAs in the provincial assembly that would allow the chief minister to take the vote of confidence before January 11.

“We are even willing to give more seats to the PMLQ numbers through an adjustment formula in the next general elections if Elahi dissolves the Punjab Assembly as per Imran Khan’s desire,” he said.

However, it has been learnt that the numbers are short for taking a vote of confidence in the assembly. Likewise, Elahi is not making any efforts to complete the numbers.

The PTI sources maintained that Elahi did not want to annoy the ‘powerful circles’ by dissolving the assembly.

Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Imran Khan Friday doubted the establishment’s role and said it seemed the ‘neutrals’ were trying to bring the PPP into power in Punjab.

Talking to a group of reporters at the Zaman Park, Lahore, he alleged that the establishment was involved in political engineering and its role was not looking neutral and impartial in the vote of confidence process.

Imran said three of PTI MPAs in Punjab had been approached whereas Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) was also being included in the PPP.

He further said the PTI’s struggle was not against the establishment but for justice.

“The PTI will not negotiate with the corrupt elements and after coming to power, it will immediately hold the local bodies elections,” he said.

To a question, Imran said the PTI was ready to seek the vote of confidence in the Punjab Assembly. He said the PTI had its own stance on former Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa while the PMLQ had its own. He said Gen Bajwa did not consider corruption a vice.

Imran further said that former ambassador Hussain Haqqani was involved in the regime change conspiracy in Pakistan.

A senior PTI leader, when contacted, said the PTI was working on its own plan, as it was the largest party in the Punjab with the largest mandate.

Meanwhile, PTI leader Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, in a tweet apparently pointed at Parvez Elahi, said that people having lust for power were bickering on May 25th as the PTI activists were jailed and were taking part in the heroic protest on the streets. They were injured or martyred and they did not go in hiding. “If you cannot fulfil your responsibility, leave the government and stay at home,” he said.