Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari promised on Wednesday his party’s 10-point manifesto would eliminate poverty and unemployment from the country and said that he wanted election victory with heavy mandate to implement the electoral agenda.
Addressing a huge public rally in Shahdadpur, Sanghar district, Bilawal fired a broadside against rivals, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) in Sindh, saying that unlike the PPP, the other parties had no ideology to pursue.
“Make the [Pakistan] Peoples Party successful with a heavy majority, so that I, as the prime minister, can take measures for the welfare of the people of Pakistan,” Bilawal told a roaring crowd. He invoked a famous party slogan in the 1970s, saying: “power lies with the people”.
“Only the Peoples Party is an ideological party. A group of political orphans who are contesting elections [against the PPP] have no ideology or manifesto. They are looking elsewhere for their success in this election, but that time for that has passed now,” the PPP chairman added.
If the PPP formed a government after the election, Bilawal promised, it would double salaries, provide free electricity to poor families and interest-free loans to women, expand the Benazir Income Support
Programme (BISP) and construct 3 million houses for the homeless with ownership rights for women.
He also pledged that a PPP government at the Centre would initiate Benazir Kisan Card for farmers, Benazir Labour Card for workers, and Benazir Youth Card for the youngsters; establish Youth Centres at the district level and start the programmes to eliminate hunger.
Bilawal sharply criticised the PML-N and its Quaid Nawaz Sharif, although he did not explicitly mention them by name. Instead, he referred to them by the electoral symbol of the tiger. “Now the competition is only between the arrow [PPP’s election symbol] and the tiger,” he said.
“However, only Jiyalas are in the field. The lion is hiding in the house like a domestic cat. This is the lion that sucks the blood of the people, the poor, the workers. This is the lion that you [people] will hunt on February 8 [the election day]. They are fighting for their personal interests,” he continued.
“I want a heavy majority, overwhelming majority. And you are my strength, the more power you give me, the more I can do for you. I appeal to the people of Sindh to support the People’s Party. The party represents you. I want to work in every nook and cranny of Sindh.”
Bilawal, who served as the foreign minister in the previous coalition government, told the people that Pakistan currently faced huge problems and “PML-N and GDA are saying that there is no money. Therefore, the 18th Amendment and NFC [National Finance Commission] Award should be abolished”.
Read more: Bilawal champions shared heritage, transcending divisions
He rejected the assertion, saying: “I have been living in Islamabad for 18 months, I know that there are money and resources in the country, which they [PML-N and GDA] don’t want to spend on the people.”
بدین: پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری راہوکی میں جلسے سے خطاب کررہے ہیں@BBhuttoZardari #چنو_نئی_سوچ_کو pic.twitter.com/1amV8d18UB
— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) January 17, 2024
Also read: Bilawal vows support for businesses
He appealed to the people to vote for PPP candidates from Sanghar district: Shazia Marri and Alauddin Junejo for National Assembly and Ali Hasan Hangorjo, Jam Shabir Ali, Naveed Dero, Paras Dero, and Shahid Thaheem for the Sindh Assembly seats.
Later in the day, according to a press release issued by the Bilawal House Media Cell, the PPP chief visited Rahuki in Badin district, where he paid glowing tributes to Shaheed Fazil Rahu on his martyrdom anniversary.
“We pay our respects to Shaheed Fazil Rahu, a beacon of hope for the oppressed, a fearless voice for farmers,” Bilawal said. He added that Shaheed Fazil Rahu was a visionary leader whose commitment to social justice and farmers’ rights will forever resonate in our hearts.
لائیو: پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کا ضلع بدین کے تعلقہ شہید فاضل راہو میں راہوکی کے مقام پر جلسہ عام https://t.co/1BNeit3qlD
— Pakistan Peoples Party - PPP (@PPP_Org) January 17, 2024
Bilawal next PM
Separately, PPP-Parliamentarians President Asif Zardari told the party workers in Lahore that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would defeat his rivals in the election from a Lahore constituency and “we will become the next prime minister of Pakistan”.
Zardari, also the PPP Co-Chairman, addressed party workers in the NA-127 constituency, from where Bilawal is contesting, after inaugurating the election office of Faisal Mir, the PPPP’s candidate from Punjab Assembly constituency of PP-161.
In his speech, Zardari spoke of the cases instituted against him by previous government and the jail time he spent, while fighting those cases. I savoured the fruit of a tree I had planted in a prison. It grew in seven years and bore fruits,” he recalled.
“All the party office-bearers from Lahore used to visit me in the jail. I did not like to stay in jail but I did it for the sake of our workers. I struck no deal and because of that my party workers still walk with their heads held high,” he said. “Our workers believe that our leader will not bow down.”
PPP Central Punjab Acting President Rana Farooq Saeed and PPP Lahore President Chaudhry Aslam Gill also addressed the gathering. PPPP candidate for PP-161 Faisal Mir, Mian Misbahur Rehman, Adnan Sarwar, Amjad Hussain, Huma Mir and Navela Mir were also present on this occasion.
(WITH INPUT FROM OUR LAHORE CORRESPONDENT)
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