LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday said that a political alliance with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the upcoming general elections was out of question.
“There can be no alliance with corrupt leaders like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari,” Imran told a news conference in Lahore. Both Nawaz Sharif and former military ruler Pervez Musharraf have offered him seats in the past, he claimed.
Referring to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s remarks about the Senate polls, Imran Khan said it was a common knowledge that money works in the polls. “I have been saying … money works in [Senate] polls. Did they not know this before? Now that they have lost, they are [crying] that the elections [were bought],” he asked.
The PTI chief claimed that 55 per cent of Punjab’s budget had been spent on the provincial capital alone. “This amount [spent on Lahore] is three times that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) budget,” he said.
“Half of the budget of Punjab and Lahore goes towards [construction of] roads,” he said, adding, “People of Multan never needed the metro bus service in the first place. Despite Rs 60 billion spent on the project, the buses are now running empty.” The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should probe the Multan metro bus project, he demanded.
Taking direct aim at Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Imran Khan asked why the chief minister and Nawaz Sharif’s ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz have to resort to travelling abroad for medical treatment. “Because, Shehbaz failed to build even a single hospital during his tenure where he or Kulsoom Nawaz could be treated,” he said, drawing comparison to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital. “It is the best hospital [in Pakistan]. I personally received medical care there twice.”
The PTI chief vowed to continue informing the public about the ruling party’s corruption.
Published in Daily Times, April 1st 2018.
