PTI’s efforts to topple Sindh govt ‘in advanced stage’

Sources say influential PPP lawmaker tasked with forming forward bloc

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) has quietly launched efforts to dislodge the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh, PPP sources confirmed to The Express Tribune on Wednesday, saying that behind-the-scene efforts in this regard were already in an advanced stage.

PPP sources also confirmed that one of the party’s influential lawmakers in the provincial assembly has been given the task of forming a forward bloc.

It is also learnt that, in view of the development, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was staying in Karachi to foil efforts to topple the provincial government. If the situation remained the same, he might not travel to Islamabad to attend the upcoming joint session of parliament, the sources disclosed.

A senior PTI leader has already revealed that the government was taking advantage of the prevailing situation and focusing on the province of Sindh. Political analysts believe that the federal government wanted to take advantage of the absence of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister, Faryal Talpur, who are in Adiala Jail.

The PPP obtained an unprecedented majority in the provincial assembly in the recent past. However, analysts say that anything is possible after the failure of the opposition’s no-confidence motion against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

Meanwhile, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab, while talking to The Express Tribune, has admitted that the federal government has been making efforts to topple the Sindh government for some time now. However, he said, the Sindh government is functioning despite all efforts and registration of cases against the MPAs.

He claimed that no “influential PPP MPA” was forming a forward bloc. Wahab also questioned whether such a move was permissible under Article 63-A of the Constitution. “These are just rumours”, he said.

Likewise, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, who is in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody, in a statement, has also rejected reports that he was busy forming a forward bloc of MPAs against the government.

On the other hand, current Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah is facing charges of corruption and reports have emerged that he may be arrested at any time. Likewise, the Supreme Court has also accepted a review petition for hearing against its judgment of rejecting the election petition seeking disqualification of the chief minister on the grounds of holding dual nationality in the past.

In the Sindh Assembly, the PPP has 99 lawmakers followed by the opposition PTI’s 30, MQM-P’s 21, the Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) 13, the Tehreek-e- Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) three and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) 1.

The party position clearly indicates that, even if all opposition parties were to unite — their combined strength is 68 — they would still be 17 lawmakers short of achieving a simple majority, which is 85 lawmakers, in the house.