Budget to sail through NA however hard Opp may try

ISLAMABAD: Budget 2020-2021 will sail through the National Assembly no matter how hard the combined opposition may try, said Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz here on Sunday.

He was speaking at a news conference here along with Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar.

Shibli said the PPP and PML-N both were responsible for the current situation in the country and had nothing to do with the national issues and people’s problems even today. He maintained that the opposition was not serious about the country and the nation.

He said the opposition had a very crucial role to play in parliamentary politics and in the given situation instead of playing their role, they were just waiting for the things to take a bad turn and their conference in the day was reflective of the same.

“The opposition parties are happy with the situation and have nothing to offer for solving issues. They are just dancing while the country is passing through a difficult time,” he said.

The minister said the PPP and PML-N had a major contribution to the current economic situation and the state of the country’s public institutions adding that both the parties promoted their own businesses and built properties abroad.

The opposition parties, he said, did not like the prime minister to work for the public welfare.

He questioned the logic behind the opposition’s demand for elections in the given difficult scenario and despite fully knowing the ground realities.

Today, he pointed out, the PML-N stood divided into various factions, like the Nawaz League, Shahbaz Sharif League, Maryam Nawaz League, and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while the PTI stood united and had full faith in the leadership of Imran Khan, whom they considered the nation’s messiah.

"Imran Khan's steadfastness has restored the global identity of the country and the nation," he remarked.

Speaking on the occasion, Hammad Azhar dismissed the outcry by the opposition over the budget 2020-21, saying it was just an attempt at political point-scoring.

"No new tax has been imposed in the budget. Instead, relief was given," he said.

"It is incomprehensible why the opposition is rejecting the budget," he said, adding, "Political point-scoring has become a tradition in the country."

He said the oil prices had never seen such a drastic reduction as they had in the incumbent government's tenure.

Azhar said he had not even presented the budget and the opposition “had already rejected it”.

“I was expecting that since we are facing a grave health emergency, the situation will be different, but to our disappointment the opposition has succumbed to their old habit of looking to their own interests and not the country’s.”

“We had reduced the petrol prices previously. The new hike in prices is not because of the taxes levied but because of the surge in petrol prices on the international market.

“Please get your facts straight,” said the minister.