Maryam tasked to lead rallies for Punjab by-polls

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Saturday directed its Vice President Maryam Nawaz to lead rallies and hold meetings in 20 constituencies for by-elections on vacant Punjab Assembly seats scheduled for July 17.

The seats had fallen vacant after the ECP de-notified the dissident PTI MPAs who had voted for PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz against their party line in the Punjab chief minister’s election on May 23.

The top PML-N leadership met at the party’s Model Town Secretariat, wherein they deliberated on a detailed strategy for the by-elections in Punjab next month.

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, Maryam, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and others.

The leadership applauded the federal budget for the next fiscal year and deliberated on a strategy for upcoming by-elections in Punjab.

According to sources, they discussed the current political and economic situation and voiced their support for the “excellent” budget while appreciating the premier and his economic team for coming up with it.

Hamza told the meeting that the provincial budget would be presented on Monday.

Premier Shehbaz told the participants that they were aware of the difficulties being faced by the people and working to resolve those in good faith. He also claimed that the politics of “negative propagandists” was dying out automatically.

Regarding the lingering energy crisis, he said that all resources were being utilised to control load-shedding. He added that the sales tax on solar panels was abolished in the federal budget for FY2022-23 to combat power outages.

Shehbaz also called on the people to unite to end political extremism in the country.

After the meeting, Sadiq told the media persons that party officials and candidates from the constituencies where by-polls were being held were invited.

He revealed that no decision had been made on the by-election tickets yet as some people got angry while others had to be persuaded.

He also claimed that load-shedding would be limited to two hours at any cost as the government was utilising all resources to eliminate power outages.

On the federal budget, he said that there could be no budget better than it. “The government has presented the budget keeping in view every sector,” he added.

He said that the government was providing food subsidies to the poor through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) outlets so that the burden of inflation did not fall on the public.

He also hinted at problems emerging from a shortage of palm oil as Malaysia had banned its exports.