QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani on Friday declared that he would not yield to blackmail by the angry group within the ruling party and would not step down.

He warned that a change on the whims of a few elements would harm both the government and the opposition.

Mr Alyani was talking to journalists at the Chief Minister House. The parliamentary leader of Awami National Party, Mohammad Asghar Khan Achakzai, Senators Anwarul Haq Kakar and Mir Omer Ahmed­zai and Adviser to the CM on Local Govern­ment Nawabzada Mir Gohram Bugti were present on the occasion.

“Balochistan cannot afford such a change at this stage because such a decision would be harmful to the province,” the CM said and claimed he enjoyed the support of all coalition partners as well as majority of the members of ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

Says complaints of angry members are of personal nature

“With the help of coalition partners and other colleagues things will improve,” Mr Alyani said, adding that nothing was impossible in politics and doors of negotiations were never shut.

He said he wanted to resolve all issues, including intra-party elections and the political crisis with mutual understanding and negotiations.

In reply to a question, the CM said if someone compared allocations under his government’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) with previous governments’ PSDP it would clearly show the difference in respect of allocation of development funds for members of the opposition parties.

Mr Alyani claimed his government had provided funds to opposition members for development schemes for their constituencies.

“In the last three years the present government carried out exemplary development work and made efforts for progress in all sectors keeping in view the larger interest of the province and the country,” he said.

Recalling the formation of BAP, he said the party was established with the aim to resolve the issues of Balochistan and BAP candidates after winning the 2018 elections formed a coalition government. He said the main objective of the party was to remove the sense of deprivation which was developed as the issues of the province was ignored at the federal level in the past.

Mr Alyani said differences and complaints within a party was part of politics and democracy, which were always resolved through negotiations and mutual consultation.

While referring to the anger of some ministers and party MPAs, the chief minister said he always tried to resolve the issues through talks and consultation.

However, he added, he could not appease everyone and that’s why some people showed their anger. He said some members of the party had become angry without any justification and their allegations carried no weight.

He said maximum funds were provided to their constituencies after approval of their development schemes. He said when opposition parties moved a no-trust motion in the assembly, some of the BAP members and ministers joined hands with them and started showing anger.

Mr Alyani said he met almost every angry member and discussed issues with all of them. He said their reservations and complaints were not about development funds and related to the chief minister. Rather, he added, their reservations were of personal nature and very small which did not justify their anger.

CM Alyani also talked about his differences with Speaker Bizenjo and Sardar Mohammad Saleh Bhootani and other members and said that after the 18th Amend­ment he could not make every one minister or advisor.

He said that as far as int­erference in constituencies was concerned, it was not true.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2021