Khursheed Shah, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart, warned Friday that his party was unlikely to join forces with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) if Nawaz Sharif is elected prime minister.
Although not all results have been released yet, and the ones that have are unofficial, PML-N leader Nawaz has stated that his party has emerged as the “single-largest party,” encouraging others to join forces and create the next government.
“Nawaz Sharif wishes to become Prime Minister […] but I don’t think my party will form a coalition with him if he projects himself as Premier,” Shah told Geo News, hours after the world’s fifth-largest democracy voted to elect its leaders.
Shah, whose party wants PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to be the next prime minister, called Nawaz’s statement “premature” and said that he declared himself prime minister three days ago – an apparent reference to the PML-N’s advertisements in several newspapers.
The PPP stalwart, who has also served as a federal minister, pointed out that independent candidates endorsed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had 72 hours after the official results are announced to join any party.
“We will take decisions after due deliberations,” Shah stated, slamming Nawaz and asking, “What majority does the PML-N have?”
Nawaz, the PML-N’s premiership candidate, previously stated that he intends to build a unity government after his party “emerged victorious” in the February 8 general election.
“I have tasked Shehbaz Sharif to meet Fazlur Rehman, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and Asif Ali Zardari today,” Nawaz addressed a packed crowd in Lahore’s Model Town, who had come to hear his “victory speech.”
Meanwhile, PML-Quaid’s Chaudhry Salik Hussain informed Geo News that his party will evaluate the PML-N proposal tomorrow when all of his party’s candidates’ results are in.
“We will discuss and see which manifesto is better — PPP or PML-N,” Salik remarked, not flatly refusing Nawaz’s offer to work together.
In response to Nawaz, PTI leader Asad Qaiser, who has won a National Assembly seat, stated that the PTI was the single-largest party in the February 8 election.
“The government machinery was used against us.” He further stated: “We have three to four possibilities, and we are discussing intra-party elections. We shall also approach the courtroom. We’ll make a decision tomorrow about our next steps.”
“But I don’t understand the reason behind Mian sahib’s speech,” he stated, criticizing the PML-N supremo.
