PPP, PDM decide to give govt tough time in parliament

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Jamiat e Ulema Islam (JUI-F) and Pakistan Democratic Movement Chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, after the ice started melting between them.

During the meeting in Islamabad, both the leaders decided to give the government a tough time in the parliament.

The PPP chairman was accompanied by former federal information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and leader of the opposition in the senate and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.

Bilawal and Fazl raised concerns about the rising inflation. The PPP chairman also convinced the PDM chief for an in-house change in the parliament.

“Joint strategy to deal with the government is the only way to succeed,” Bilawal said adding that if the opposition came up with a joint strategy it could defeat the government on the issue of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) amendment, electronic voting machine (EVM) and other electoral reforms.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, the PPP Chairman said that one bill of the opposition was passed in the assembly because the opposition was united in the assembly. “We have always defeated the government when the opposition parties are united. In future we will also expose the conspiracies of the government by coming up with a joint strategy,” he said.

Bilawal added that due to the fear of the joint opposition, the government postponed the joint session of the parliament at midnight.

Agreeing with Bilawal, PDM chief Fazl said that the fake government had no right to do reforms. “The united opposition is the need of the hour,” he said.

He added that we are demanding free and fair elections. “The people of Pakistan should be given the right to vote again with an assurance that it won’t be stolen like previous elections,” the PDM chief maintained.

The opposition is united in the assembly and playing its part effectively, Fazl said.

Is PPP rejoining PDM?

Although some sources are claiming that PPP had agreed to rejoin the PDM and this was also discussed during the meeting but Bilawal had refuted this by saying that rejoining the PDM was not discussed during the meeting.

Sources said that leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah played a major role in melting the ice between the PPP and PDM.

 ‘PML-N’s faction not in favour of PPP joining PDM’

Sources told Bol News that although the PPP and PDM are together on the floor of the house on almost all the issues but there’s one resistant group in the PML-N which is not in favour of the PPP’s formally rejoining the alliance as they believe that the PPP and PTI made fun of the PML-N supremo when he went to England due to his illness. Likewise, the PPP has some concerns about rejoining the alliance as they believe that they had been insulted or ridiculed on the issue of resignations from the assemblies.