PPP ‘not’ joining federal cabinet – even after budget

The news reports of the PPP joining the federal cabinet are untrue, the party’s sources have claimed – meaning its chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would not be taking over as the foreign minister again, at least not for now.

According to PPP sources, the party will not join the federal cabinet before the presentation of the budget in parliament or even after it.

They added that during a recent meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal, there was no discussion on joining the federal cabinet.

Instead, the sources said Bilawal, during the meeting, stressed the need for making the purchase of wheat mandatory.

However, there were other insiders, who had recently revealed that the ruling PML-N and PPP were close to finalising a power-sharing deal and Bilawal was likely to return as the country’s foreign minister.

They claimed that Bilawal, who was initially reluctant to join the cabinet, had agreed to become the foreign minister for the second time.

Also read: Bilawal may take over reins of foreign ministry again

The two sides were now working on the details and the timing of the PPP’s formal induction into the federal cabinet.

Earlier this month, the premier and Bilawal had met at the PM’s House to finalise the names of the governors for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

According to an official statement, PM Shehbaz and Bilawal discussed the overall political situation in the country.

However, a PPP leader maintained that even though the prime minister and other parties in the ruling coalition wanted the PPP in the cabinet, the party leadership had had not yet decided to change its previous stance on the matter.

The leader termed the reports suggesting that the PPP was joining the cabinet after the budget “speculative”, saying that no such discussion had taken place during the meetings between the two sides.

(With input from our News Desk in Karachi)