Murad says those seeking resignation have no wisdom

KARACHI: The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has said those seeking his resignation know nothing about the ground realities and have no wisdom. Talking to the media on Tuesday, he said the “PPP has 99 seats out of 168 in the Sindh Assembly and is in a very comfortably majority,” he said. The CM advised the PTI government to first secure its position in the National Assembly where it is a minority government.

Quoting Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto, the CM said "the federal government is a minority government at the Centre, therefore you should try to save yourselves.”

Murad Ali Shah said 172 seats of the National Assembly are required for the formation of the federal government. “What kind of majority does the PTI have in the National Assembly,” he asked while comparing to their own strength in the provincial assembly.

Earlier, the Sindh chief minister said the federal government, instead of concentrating on achieving its revenue and recovery targets, has entangled itself in unconstitutional adventures which are bound to weaken the national economy. Shah was talking to the media after a surprise visit of Sindh Secretariat on Tuesday.

The CM said the federal government’s recoveries have turned to be so bad that it has transferred 28 percent less funds to the provincial government than its share in the federal divisible pool. “This shows that they [fed govt] are facing 28 per cent shortfall in their recoveries,” he said and added they should better focus on recoveries instead of indulging in changing the loyalties of PPP MPAs in Sindh. At the end of the day, the provincial governments would suffer due to inefficiency, incapacity, ill-planning and bad recoveries of the federal government. “It is both surprising and upsetting as to how the provincial government would meet its expenditures when the federal transfers are on the decline to such an extent,” the CM said.

To a question about putting his name on the ECL, Shah said he has no interest in undertaking foreign trips. “After taking over as the chief minister, I had only gone to China to attend a CPEC related meeting,” he said and added all the four chief ministers were supposed to attend the meeting of JCC (Joint Cooperation Committee) of the CPEC but only he attended it. He said, “I took up the development projects of Sindh in the JCC meeting which made the federal government uncomfortable and they put my name on the ECL to keep me away from my development endeavours for Sindh.”

Earlier, the CM paid a surprise visit to different provincial government’s departments in the New Secretariat,Tughluq House and the Finance block. During his visit, he found most of the secretaries absent from their offices and expressed his displeasure. He held two meetings at the secretariat, including one at the Finance Department and other at the Planning and Development Department where Chairman of P&D Board, Sindh, M. Waseem, briefed him about the pace of the ongoing development schemes.

Later, the CM wrote a letter to the chief secretary telling him that only a few secretaries were present in their offices during his visit. He told the chief secretary that lack of discipline is not acceptable and directed him to ensure punctuality of officers.