Development funds freeze: Prime minister to try and appease upset members

Gilani expected to take Punjab MPAs into confidence over memogate.

LAHORE:

Several PPP parliamentarians in the Punjab are not happy with the federal government. Such is their disgruntlement that the prime minister is expected to meet them today.

Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet all 106 of the Punjab parliamentarians – some of whom are upset about development funds not being released for their constituencies – at Governor’s House.

MPAs from Multan constituencies Dr Muhammad Akhtar Malik (PP 201) and Muhammad Abbas Rana (PP 202) are among those who have been invited to the meeting. They have not only expressed their annoyance with party leaders on the stopping of release of development funds for their constituencies but have openly approved of Shah Mehmood’s Qureshi decision to join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Dr Akhtar, while talking with The Express Tribune, said that though he has been invited he was not sure that he would attend the meeting. “I will make a decision after talking to my colleagues in the Punjab Assembly (PA). If they attend the meeting, so will I” he said.

He told The Tribune that more than 12 members in the PA had similar complaints. “Gilani blocked the release of funds for my constituency two years ago. I have tried to talk to him many times but he has never paid attention to my plea,” the parliamentarian said.

“It’s because of Gilani’s arrogant attitude that I have decided to stand by Qureshi,” Dr Akhtar said.

The dozen or so members who are also complaining of blocked funds will hold a press conference if they participate in the Saturday meeting, the PPP members said.

PPP deputy parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly, Shaukat Mehmood Basra, told The Express Tribune that PM Gilani’s meeting with Punjab parliamentarians was “long over due”.

When asked about development funds freeze, he said that the Punjab government had stopped the release of funds for various new and ongoing projects in PPP MPA’s constituencies, as a result of which the MPAs were facing severe criticism from their voters. When the MPAs asked the federal government that funds be given to PPP MPAs in the Punjab, it gave funds to PML-N MNAs but not PPP MPAs, Basra said. That, he said, had led to the “current state of distrust and frustration”. Basra said that he was hopeful that the prime minister will remove their reservations and issue funds for their constituencies.

The deputy parliamentary leader said that in addition to addressing the MPAs complaints, Gilani was expected to take PPP MPAs into confidence about the party’s policy over the memogate issue. The prime minister will ask the MPAs to tell their constituents about the rights and privileges of the parliament as well as other state institutions, Basra told The Tribune.

“Punjab PPP will devise a new strategy to counter PML-N and PTI’s propaganda against the party among the youth,” he said.

The leader of opposition in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz and PPP parliamentary leader Major (retd) Zulfiqar Gondal are expected to brief the media about the meeting after it ends.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2011.