PPP to muster PDM support for in-house change

ISLAMABAD: The PPP has prepared a working plan to muster support of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for in-house change, both in the Punjab and federal level, sources told The News here on Thursday.

The sources said the working plan, prepared by former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in coordination with senior party members, would be presented in upcoming PDM meeting.

“The plan will focus on three no-confidence motions against Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Prime Minister Imran Khan,” the sources said.

The sources said the PPP leadership has taken strong notice of apprehensions, shown by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) over its proposal of in-house change and decided that it would give arguments and thoroughly present its viewpoint in upcoming PDM meeting. They said the PPP leadership believes that timing is always important in politics so the ‘number game,’ with regard to in-house change, should not be an open secret for the political opponents.

A senior party member, who requested anonymity, told this correspondent, “We will hit the right corners of the ‘house of cards’ that will not survive and collapse soon after the Senate elections.”

The sources said both former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari would attend PDM meeting through video links and give their views regarding in-house change, long march and resignations from the assemblies. They said PPP would urge the opposition parties to first move no-confidence motion against the Speaker National Assembly and then they should repeat this act against the prime minister, adding “Asif Ali Zardari will also take the opposition parties into confidence over the plan of in-house change.”

Talking to The News, PPP’s Shazia Marri said, “PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will present the plan of in-house change and seek support of the opposition parties in the PDM meeting to be held on February 4.”

“Everyone knows the Imran-led government cannot survive even for a single day without support from ‘powerful quarters’. But when they will stay neutral then Prime Minister Imran Khan will find no way to protect his government,” she said.

To a question, she said, “If former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari talk about no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan then it means that they are properly doing their homework to make it a success.”