No name finalised forcaretaker CM: Khattak

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said here Sunday that no name had been finalised for the office of caretaker chief minister of the province.

He asked the opposition parliamentary leader Maulana Lutfur Rahman to consult party leaders of other parties in this regard. He rejected the allegations that a business tycoon had bribed the chief minister and opposition leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for finalising his name as the caretaker chief minister. “These are just rumours that the businessman has been named as chief executive for the interim set-up in the province,” he replied to the remarks of Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary party leader Sardar Hussain Babak about allegations that Manzoor Afridi, brother of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Ayub Afridi, had given a huge bribe so that he is appointed as the caretaker chief minister.

The chief minister said that he would consult Jamaat-e-Islami while opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman would talk to the opposition parties’ leaders for finalizing a consensus care taker chief minister. Earlier, the parliamentary party leaders of the ANP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) in their remarks on the assembly floor said that they had not been consulted by the opposition leader for naming the caretaker chief minister. Sardar Hussain Babak argued that for the first time a businessman had been named as caretaker chief minister who had no experience, qualification or impartiality to lead government ahead of general election. “There are reports in the media that the caretaker chief minister’s post had been sold out for a huge amount,” he added. However, opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who is also parliamentary party leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), denied the allegations and said that he had contacted each and every parliamentary party leader of the opposition parties and asked for names for the caretaker chief minister so that he could discuss this with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

“These baseless allegations not only hurt my political career, but also damaged the reputation of my party and family,” he said. He added that there were so many people who had been lobbying for inclusion in the caretaker government in the province. QWP’s Sikandar Hayat Sherpao said that the caretaker chief minister should be a neutral and impartial person as one of the main responsibilities of the interim government was to hold free and fair elections. “How can one expect impartiality from a person who has been proposed by two individuals or political parties,” he questioned. He maintained that the PTI government had not implemented its agenda regarding good governance, justice and transparency. Earlier, PTI’s minority MPA Baldev Kumar finally took oath as Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) at the final session of the legislature. He had been declared MPA after the murder of Sardar Suran Singh, also from PTI and advisor to the chief minister on minorities. Baldev Kumar was arrested and imprisoned for having a hand in the murder of Sardar Suran Singh. However, he was later acquitted by a court. As he was top of the waiting list of PTI candidates for the minorities’ seat, he was automatically elected as MPA. However, the lawmakers, including those from PTI, resisted his oath-taking by using different tactics as they considered him a murderer of Sardar Suran Singh.