Election campaign to start after Ramazan, says Imran

Says no relief was expected for the poor in federal budget

PESHAWAR: Ignoring the budget session of the National Assembly on Friday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was busy holding party meetings after which he announced that his party would start campaigning for the 2018 general election soon after the month of Ramazan.

Imran was talking to media-persons on Friday at the residence of MNA Noor Alam Khan, who recently left the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to join the PTI.

“We will clean-sweep Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the upcoming general election” as the party’s popularity graph in the province had gone up, said the PTI chief.



He welcomed Noor Alam and described his joining the PTI as a major development in the K-P’s political landscape. He claimed that the development would add to the party position in K-P.

Criticising the federal government, Imran said he wasn’t expecting anything positive for the poor in the budget.

He also condemned the use of batons and teargas by the police against the farmers who were protesting ahead of the budget session in Islamabad. “It was a brutal use of force against the poor farmers,” he said.



Taking the federal government to task for imposing heavy taxes on agriculture, he said, “In four years, no relief has been given to farmers by the federal government.”

About his demand for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation, the PTI chief said, “Go Nawaz Go has become a national slogan and everyone wants better leadership for the country.”

Meanwhile, Imran also visited Arbab Amir, a former town nazim who also joined the PTI quitting the Awami National Party. Welcoming him into the party, he said it was the wish of the party workers that Amir should join the PTI.