I will be prime minister if we win election: Shahbaz

LAHORE: PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday said he had friendly relations with Chaudhry Nisar, but regretted that the two of them had dissociated with each other. During an interview with anchorperson Saleem Safi on Geo News' show Jirga, Shahbaz said he had convinced Nawaz Sharif for awarding ticket to Nisar, but it could not happen because of the statements issued from both sides. "I have had an affiliation with Chaudhry Nisar and I won't issue statements on that throughout my life," he said. The former Punjab CM also said that the PML-N had chosen him as the party president – a decision endorsed by Nawaz Sharif and if they won the elections, then he would be the prime minister.

He denied allegations of lending any form of support to Reham Khan for her upcoming book which has stirred controversy. “I am neither behind Reham’s book nor gave her a single penny for it directly or indirectly,” Shahbaz said.

The PML-N president said Imran Khan had alleged that he was behind Reham’s book but he gave no value to his allegation, as he met Reham only once in his whole life.

“I only met her once when she interviewed me during the 2014 sit-ins and never after that,” the former Punjab chief minister said.

Speaking about the allegations levelled against him by the PTI chairman, Shahbaz said, “Khan Sahib said I gave Rs27 billion to Reham for the book through an alleged front man Javed Sadiq.”

“The second allegation he has levelled against me is that I offered him Rs10 billion to stay mum on the Panama Papers case,” he continued.

“Imran’s third allegation against me is that I took Rs1-2 billion in commission in Multan Metro Bus project through partnership with a Chinese company,” the former Punjab chief minister said.

Shahbaz said he sent notices to Imran following each allegation. “However, he never replied to me after which I even went to court and neither he nor his counsel ever appeared for any of the cases,” he asserted.