‘PPP will not stoop to horse-trading’

The PM says the govt will not stoop to bribing lawmakers to switch their loyalties to gain majority in Punjab.

MURIDKE: The government will not stoop to bribing lawmakers to switch their loyalties to gain majority in Punjab, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday.

Talking to reporters after a ceremony at a local school, the premier said that the PPP would prefer to sit on opposition benches, instead of resorting to horse-trading, adding that some people might genuinely want to join the PPP of their own free will.

Commenting on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s assertion that his party might push for mid-term elections, the premier said that if provincial governments were not able to hold local bodies elections, how could they conduct general elections. He said that even if elections were held, the PPP would win by a wide margin.

Prime Minister Gilani said that despite the end of its formal partnership with the PML-N, the PPP would call upon all political parties, including the PML-N, to play their part in steering the country out of crisis. “All of our coalition partners are cooperating with us and the PML-N has also played an effective role as parliamentary opposition,” he added.

Referring to the PML-N’s economic agenda, he said that lawmakers of both parties had discussed it “very efficiently for 200 hours”, adding that PML-N should de-link the 10-point agenda from the Punjab government as the PPP has been working to implement it.

The prime minister also said that there were no deadlines or ultimatums in politics, and if the PML-N has decided to part ways with the PPP, “we will not shun the policy of reconciliation.” He said that all political parties would have to make joint efforts for the country’s progress. “Today, I announce that no single party can steer the country out of crisis,” he added.

He said that because of the effective and viable policies of the federal government, “Pakistan’s economy is improving, foreign reserves are at their peak, stock markets have shot up and there is a boom in the agricultural sector.”

He added when he took over the government, there was a shortage of wheat, but now it is being exported. “We are used to overcoming Herculean challenges. We will surpass all targets, and we will take Mian Nawaz Sharif on board about our economic agenda,”he said.

Earlier, the prime minister said that education and health were the government’s top priorities. “Literacy rate in the country would be raised to 85 per cent by increasing GDP spending up to seven per cent by year 2015,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2011.