ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians President Asif Ali Zardari has said that as there was a deprivation in the Punjab province but people do not see it.
In an interview, the former president said his party’s target has always been and will remain Punjab. He claimed that some electables will come to them after winning as most of the electables had who joined the PTI were forced to leave the PPP to join the PTI.
Zardari was confident that the PPP would give good results without independent candidates in Punjab.
He said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was trying to attract anti-Nawaz votes. “What is necessary for us at this time is not pro-Nawaz votes but anti-Nawaz votes,” he said.
He said the PTI was neither a movement nor a philosophy, but a drama of misbehaviour. “Those who went to the PTI want to return,” he said.
He said the PPP and PMLN would become two major parties and take battle out.
The former president said that Shehbaz Sharif was the prime minister and he was running the government and he goes to sleep at 10pm and wakes up at 8am. “Shehbaz was made the prime minister, but he does not think out of the box,” he said.
He said that the PPP could form the government after the general elections as it would take good seats from all over the country, adding that the positions of the prime minister and the presidency depend on numbers game.
He said that the PPP had told all the parties not to boycott the election and sit in the assembly. All the political parties contributed in the no-confidence motion, perhaps the PPP was more active.
He said the party wanted to resign from the ministries but he wanted to see Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as prime minister and wanted him to run the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In a response to a question, the former president said that Bilawal was talking about normal political prisoners, not convicts. “There were no political prisoners in my government, I don’t think PTI ex-chairman is among political prisoners,” he said.
He said Imran Khan had not been convicted yet, adding that they would see once the PTI ex-chairman was convicted.
Zardari said that the political crisis will reduce after the elections, adding that everyone would have to work after the polls.
He said that no one could become prime minister without PPP votes. “Nawaz Sharif cannot become prime minister without our votes, similarly Bilawal cannot become prime minister without Nawaz Sharif’s votes.
The former president ruled out the possibility of formation of the government with the PMLN, saying that if Nawaz Sharif got majority then he would form the government and if the PPP got majority then they would be ruling.
About coalition government with the PMLN, he said it’s too early to say anything at this stage. “For now, I cannot say anything. Mian Sahib and his party are very arrogant. We go to jails and still do not say anything to the senders,” he said.
In a reply to a question, he sad Nawaz was always ‘Ladala’ and still was, and when he was not “Ladla”, he was out of power.
On the question of talks with the PTI founder, Zardari rejected the idea and said that they would talk to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, independent candidates, Jamaat-e-Islami and Balochistan Awami Party to form the government.
He said the cases against him were still going on but the cases of the Nawaz had ended despite that the PMLN supremo was convicted, while he [Zardari] was not.
He said did not see return of the 90s’ politics as the time had changed. To a question regarding the Bilawal’s election from Lahore, Zardari was confident of winning the seat.
