Asif Ali Zardari Demands PM's seat for Bilawal in exchange for PML-N support in Punjab

Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto picture.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is demanding significant cabinet posts and the prime minister's position for himself, according to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, who informed his party officials of this .PML-N and PPP begin discussing the establishment of federal and provincial governments.

Majorly, the PPP and PML-N have decided to form a coalition government, but only if Bilawal becomes prime minister. The PPP would assist the PML-N in forming a government in Punjab, as a tradeoff, Shehbaz informed the party leaders.

On Friday night, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif met with former president Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal to discuss the coalition's future. According to party sources, on Saturday, the PML-N leaders deliberated about various alternatives for forming the government in Punjab and the Center.

Shehbaz Sharif led a meeting of the PML-N leadership on Saturday to discuss this matter.Among those who were at the meeting were Senators Ishaq Dar, Attaullah Tarar, Azam Nazir Tarar, Khawaja Imran Nazir, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Marriyum Aurangzeb.

During the meeting, the president of the PML-N talked about different options for forming a government. The party talked about how, despite becoming the biggest political party in the nation, the PML-N cannot form a government on its own and must enlist the support of other political parties or independent candidates.

Party sources said that Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, and other PML-N leaders were overconfident, and that the party leadership did not pay much attention to public rallies, door-to-door campaigns, direct voter interactions and public campaigning, particularly on election day. They claimed that the PML-N leadership was shocked by the election results, which were radically different from their expectations.

According to party sources, the PML-N initially considered forming a coalition with  Asif Ali Zardari, but they were reluctant to cede the prime ministership.

Reportedly, the meeting resolved that should the negotiations with the PPP fail, the PML-N would form a coalition government with the JUI-F, MQM  and other smaller parties, such as electables and independents. In such a scenario, Shehbaz Sharif would become prime minister and Maryam Nawaz would become chief minister of Punjab, according to the sources.

The party leaders were instructed, meanwhile, to consider additional possibilities for the creation of the Central, Punjabi, and Balochistani governments in the future.

Following the general elections on February 8, the three largest parties—the PML-N, PPP, and the independents connected to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)—are in the running to form the next governments. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has nearly finished announcing the election results.

The PTI Chairman, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, stated that the president would give his party the chance to form the federal government since they had the support of the largest number of MNAs-elect. On Saturday, the PML-N began negotiations with the PPP regarding the formation of federal and provincial governments.A delegation from the MQM-P visited Lahore on the one hand to have meetings with Shehbaz Sharif, the president of the PMLN, and other party officials.

On Saturday, Bilawal asserted that without his party's backing, no government could be established in the federal government or in the provinces of  Balochistan and Punjab.

The PML-N consultation committee convened a crucial meeting on Saturday to talk about the process of consulting with like-minded parties for the formation of province and national governments.

The discussion was centered around government formation concerns, and Shehbaz gave a summary of the contacts he had made on behalf of Nawaz Sharif with different parties.

Speaker Attaullah Tarar, Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Imran Nazir,  Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, Senator Ishaq Dar, and Khawaja Saad Rafiq attended the meeting and congratulated the party president on his victory in the elections held on February 8.

However, PPP Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari stated that without the backing of his party, no one could establish governments in the Centre, Punjab, or Balochistan. He also stated that the PPP was willing to have talks with any political group, emphasizing the importance of reconciliation for maintaining political stability.

In response to queries from panels of journalists on various private television channels, he stated, "So far, the PPP has not engaged officially with PMLN, PTI, or any other party. Once the results are finalized, then the Central Executive Committee of the party, which nominated me as the candidate, will sit again and devise the course of action.""The PPP is currently awaiting the confirmation of the results; this is just the preliminary phase. The decisions of independent candidates are also was awaiting," Chairman Bilawal continued in response to a question about meetings with political counterparts. "After the results are finalized, we will be in the position to interact with other political parties, be it the PMLN, PTI, or other independent candidates," he explained.

The PPP chairman stated that "we establish a political agreement on the way forward in the Central Executive Committee of the party" because it was in the best interests of the nation.

In his words, "If the government is established, then we will not be able to handle people's concerns without addressing the political toxicity. We will strive to construct this political consensus and would like to bring some positive change for the people of the country."

"We are in contact with several independent candidates. As far as the PTI bloc is concerned, no contact has been made," he said in response to a query, adding that the PPP was still awaiting the outcome of the counting.

In response to another query, Bilawal stated that the current count indicated that the PPP would be necessary for the chief minister of Punjab to be successful. He further stated that the preliminary results indicated that the PPP was the only party with representation in each of the four provinces. 

He asserted that Nawaz Sharif was speaking in a hurry when he remarked, "It is ultimately his and his party's prerogative, but he too should have waited for the definitive results as us." The PPP, he argued, is the party uniting all four provinces.




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