CM says meeting to decide consensus candidates for Senate elections

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak Sunday said that leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and opposition parties would hold talks in Peshawar to field consensus candidates in the upcoming Senate elections.
Talking to The News, he said the government was making serious efforts to stop horse-trading in the Senate elections.He said the government and opposition parties would give good news to the people as the meeting was expected to take place Sunday night. “Those trying to buy votes would face embarrassment tonight,” he added.
Pervez Khattak said he wished that all the candidates were elected unopposed. “I have shared a formula in this regard with the leaders of the opposition parties and Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan,” he stated.
Rejecting differences in the PTI amid reports of horse-trading, the chief minister said nobody could buy the loyalties of the PTI legislators. “The media shouldn’t speculate and publish baseless news,” he maintained.
He hoped the PTI and its allies in the provincial government would win seven seats in the Senate elections.Meanwhile, speaking at a public rally in Spin Kanay in Cherat, Pervez Khattak said the Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had contacted him to discuss issues relating to the rights of the province.
He said he would hold a meeting with Ishaq Daron Wednesday and discuss the electricity, gas royalty and other rights of the province with him.The chief minister said the federal government was using delaying tactics in allowing the provincial government to provide the surplus gas to the industries. “The business activities and industries have been adversely affected due to terrorism but we are trying to bring investment to the province,” he added.
He said the provincial government was organizing an Investment Conference in Dubai on Wednesday to attract investment in natural resources, minerals and gems in the province.The chief minister said the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Provincial Minister for Mineral Development Ziaullah Afridi and Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Atif Khan would attend the conference.