Fawad contradicts Ali Muhammad on Sanjrani issue

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry Saturday again claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan and the federal cabinet had ‘regretted’ the conduct of the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani regarding barring him from the Senate session.

The minister reiterated his earlier claim during Geo News programme Jirga. Previously, he had said so during the cabinet briefing following the Senate chairman’s ruling under which he was asked to either stay away from remaining sittings of the session or apologise to the opposition over his remarks against key opposition leaders.

His assertion is in total contrast to Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan’s denial on the floor of the Senate during the recently-prorogued session, who had insisted Sanjrani’s conduct was not discussed in the cabinet meeting.

It goes without saying that either of the two is factually correct: either the information minister or parliamentary affairs minister. No surprises, if now again, Ali Muhammad contradicts Fawad’s statement and this can lead to prime minister’s intervention to put to an end the rare controversy between two ministers of his cabinet and of his own party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The Senate chairman had barred Fawad on November 15 from attending proceedings of the House. The minister had not apologised in the Senate and the session was prorogued next day.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that nobody has the right to humiliate any minister," Fawad had told reporters at a press conference he addressed after a meeting of the federal cabinet on the eventful day.

"Should we apologise for asking where the billions of rupees of the poor people of Pakistan went? Should we apologise if we ask how the money of the people of Pakistan is spent," he had said, referring to the opposition’s outcry and the chairman’s ruling.

However, to the surprise of many, Ali Muhammad had contradicted his statement that the prime minister and the cabinet had discussed chairman Senate's conduct.

“What parliamentary affairs minister said is totally wrong. It is quite possible, he might have left the cabinet meeting, as the matter was taken up towards the end of meeting,” Fawad said in the Geo News show and added he stood by what he had stated after the cabinet meeting. he insisted that what he had said was 100 percent correct.

He even noted that after the cabinet meeting, Imran Khan himself had told him also that he had talked to the Senate chairman about this.