PTI swings into action to foil opposition’s no-trust move

Ruling party lawmakers would opt to skip NA session if no-confidence motion was tabled in the house, say sources

ISLAMABAD:

The ruling PTI has swung into action to foil the opposition’s bid to topple the federal government through a no-confidence motion as it chalked out a strategy against the move, The Express Tribune learnt on Friday.

Sources privy to the development said that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser chaired a meeting of the key federal ministers in Islamabad, where it was decided that treasury benches lawmakers would skip the NA session if the opposition tabled the no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Key federal ministers were also tasked to approach the MNAs of PPP and PML-N to seek their support against the no-confidence move.

Opposition parties are reportedly mulling different options to topple the PTI-led government including first moving the no-trust motion against the NA speaker and then Prime Minister Imran in the lower house of the parliament.

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The insiders added that opposition members belonging to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab will be contacted by the ruling party members to garner their support against the no-trust vote.

PM Imran has also been briefed about the decisions taken during the ruling party huddle, they added.

The opposition parties, apart from wooing the government coalition partners, are also banking their support on the ruling party’s lawmakers that they would revolt against their party and support the opposition on no-confidence motion.

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday claimed that three PTI lawmakers were offered money to gain their support for the opposition’s planned no-confidence motion in parliament against the government.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of the PTI’s Central Executive Committee, the minister had elaborated that the trio of party’s parliamentarians, including a minority member and a female lawmaker, had been offered money to support the no-trust motion. “This is such a shameful instance,” he claimed, adding that the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran would fail.