PML-N vows not to let govt pass Punjab budget

Rana Sanaullah accuses PM’s information assistant of influencing graft inquiry against her

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah said on Saturday his party would not allow the Punjab government to pass the ‘anti-poor’ budget it has proposed no matter what threats Special Assistant to the PM Firdous Ashiq Awan hurls at the opposition.

“She [Firdous] can put the entire opposition in prison if she wants to but we won’t let the government pass the budget in its present shape,” he added.

The PML-N leader said the special assistant should inform the nation about the billions of rupees taken in loans by the present government in the 10 months of its tenure and where it had spent all that money. “The people demand that the government be held accountable,” he added.

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Sanaullah also accused Firdous of involvement in corruption during her tenure as a minister in a previous government. “She faces charges of corruption in buses and medicines cases but has prevented further inquiry into the matters using her influence as PM’s special assistant,” he said.

In 2014, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorised an inquiry against Firdous for allegedly deploying 12 government buses for her private use and making illegal appointments in the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan when she was the federal information minister.

“People like her [Firdous] should be sent to correctional facilities instead of being appointed to such important posts,” the PML-N leader said.

Earlier this month, the special assistant’s legal team served Rs2 billion defamation notice on Rana Sanaullah for issuing “false, malicious and defamatory statements” against her.

The PML-N has submitted a resolution to the Punjab Assembly secretariat against the provincial budget. In the resolution, it has been stated that the budget would only add to the woes of the poor.

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“Those who claim of establishing the state of Madina have presented the worst budget in the history of Punjab,” reads the resolution submitted by PML-N MPA Uzma Zahid Bukhari.

The resolution says during the PML-N’s tenure, funds were allocated for numerous schemes in the province and hundreds of mega projects were completed under the leadership of the PML_N President and former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“The so-called government has not even allocated funds for a single mega project in Lahore. There is nothing in the budget except loads of taxes for the working class.”