Upper house witnesses ruckus over comments on premier

Senate chairman expunges Tangi’s remarks on PM Imran

ISLAMABAD: The upper house on Monday witnessed rumpus as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Bahramand Tangi launched a diatribe against Prime Minister Imran Khan saying the premier had “failed” to live up to the expectations of people.

Commenting on the budget for the next fiscal year, he remarked that the outlay was “anti-state and anti-poor”.

Tangi criticised the premier saying that he had not fulfilled the promises he made before coming to power.

“Political parties get vote from people on the basis of their manifesto. Imran Khan had said if he did not implement the manifesto [of PTI] after becoming prime minister, it would mean he [Imran] is a puppet” he said.

“Imran had pledged to bring an end to poverty and unemployment and said that he would commit suicide if he had to approach the IMF, vowed to keep 15 ministers in the cabinet and not rule the country through his friends and provide five million houses and 10 million jobs” he added.

“Did the current prime minister implement any one of the 34 points in his manifesto,” he questioned.

Directing a pun at PM Imran, he asked if he could call him a “wheat and dollar thief prime minister or a tiger or sheru (lion) premier”.

The PTI senators protested over Tangi’s speech after which the Senate chairman turned off the PPP senator’s mike.

In response, the PPP members created ruckus in the House and stood on the benches.

Tangi again started his speech saying he had the right to speak and others could not stop him.

“Imran Khan is selected. They [PTI members] are his servants,” he said.

After Tangi made these comments, again chaos was witnessed in the Senate and PTI senators stood on the benches.

The PPP senator called Jehangri Tareen a “sugar thief” and asked where the PTI stalwart was who had formed the government with the help of independent candidates.

He said that Tareen was a convict who sat with the government when important decisions were taken and questioned why he was not arrested.

The Senate chairman expunged Tangi’s remarks on PM Imran.

Leader of the House in Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem censured Tangi’s speech stating that he would not allow anyone to discuss the issue of manifesto by making the premier responsible for their own faults.

He said that PPP had ruined generations with its slogan of roti, kapra aur makan (bread, clothing and shelter).

Dr Waseem remarked that PM Imran paid a visit to Larkana and distributed Rs2.2 billion among 125,000 families in a city where the PPP had been ruling for decades.

“The nation will decide who implemented the manifesto and who did not,” he said.