KP govt in a fix as assembly session postponed till May 14

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly did not hold its session scheduled on Thursday, apparently to avoid the anger of disgruntled members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and possible move against Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, who, according to the opposition parties, had lost confidence of the majority in the provincial assembly.

The session would now be held on May 14 as the provincial assembly secretariat issued a fresh notification in this regard. The PTI government also plans to present budget for the next fiscal year.

PTI’s coalition partner, Jamaat-e-Islami, quit the provincial government at a news conference at the Chief Minister’s House early in the day.

Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary party leader Sardar Hussain Babak had written a letter to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to take fresh oath from Pervez Khattak as he argued that the chief minister had lost confidence of the majority of members in provincial assembly.

Meanwhile, the disgruntled PTI MPAs, who had been issued show-cause notices for allegedly selling their votes in the Senate polls, denied the vote selling allegations while speaking at a joint news conference. They said they would vote against the chief minister in case no-confidence motion was tabled against him.

PTI MPAs Qurban Ali Khan, Yasin Khalil, Amjad Afridi, Obaidullah Mayar, Wajeehuzzaman, Abdul Haq and Ziaullah Afridi addressed the news conference held at Yasin Khalil’s home in Peshawar.

In the 123-member House, the ruling PTI doesn’t even have simple majority after at least 14 of its members opted to turn against their party in the assembly and the Jamaat-e-Islami disassociated itself from the government.

However, the JI parliamentary party leader and former senior minister Inayatullah said that his party would support Pervez Khattak if the opposition tabled no-confidence motion against him.

Sensing its depleted strength in the provincial assembly, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that he is in constant touch with the opposition parties and if they agree the government would present the budget for the next four months.