RAWALPINDI: According to The News on Sunday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has ruled out collaborating with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PP) to present a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration.
When Khan was questioned about the motion of no confidence, he was speaking to reporters at the Adiala jail. Between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said, there was no difference; they were just “two sides of the same coin.”
The former prime minister’s comments coincide with the coalition government led by the PML-N losing its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly as a result of the Supreme Court’s July 12 decision that PTI might be allotted reserved seats.
The PML-N and the Bilawal Bhutto-led party were unable to secure a simple majority in the February 8 elections. As a result, they came to a power-sharing agreement wherein the PPP consented to support the PM Shehbaz-led government in exchange for a number of constitutional posts. This makes the PPP an important ally in the center.
The partnership hasn’t been without its challenges, though, as disagreements have surfaced over the budget for 2024–25, administrative problems in Punjab, and most recently, the PTI’s ban.
If it is successful in convincing the PPP to renounce its support for the PTI, it could be able to overthrow the current administration by submitting a vote of no confidence in the lower house, which is how former PM Khan was removed.
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month, veteran journalist and anchor Hamid Mir hinted that, should the PML-N break its pledges, the PPP—which has repeatedly voiced disapproval of the Center’s policies—might team up with the PTI and back their motion of no confidence.
