QUETTA: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has admitted that his party’s strategy before the budget was “weak” as it failed to engage the government for implementing the terms agreed in the written agreement for power-sharing.

While addressing a press conference upon concluding his two-day visit to Quetta on Friday, the PPP leader said that it was decided in the agreement that the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) would be allocated with the consensus of all four provinces.

“As far as the budget strategy is concerned, I believe our strategy was fairly weak,” he said, adding that the understanding among all four provinces for the PSDP should have been reached before the budget was presented.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said he didn’t raise the issue “at the right time” as he expected the PML-N to honour the commitment.

Claims PML-N didn’t fulfil commitments made in power-sharing deal

“You can call it a miscommunication that this discussion couldn’t be held on time, and when the written agreement wasn’t being implemented, and my own MNAs were revolting during the budget, we were forced to engage [the government] post-facto,” he said.

He added the government should have consulted not only the allies but also the opposition on the budget.

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“Now the government presents issues in the house first and after that makes efforts to develop a consensus,” the PPP leader said, adding that consensus and briefing are different. He said that despite reservations on some important issues, including the federal budget, the PPP didn’t create hurdles for the federal government in public interest.

In response to the taxation measures introduced in the budget, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said he was not against taxation as they are vital for increasing the revenue.

But these taxes should be rational and not regressive, he added.

While quoting a report, he claimed the tax rate for those earning Rs100,000 per month has gone up by 100 per cent, while for those earning Rs2m, it went up by 4pc.

In response to a question, he rejected the notion that his party was a beneficiary of the February 8 elections and said his party has always raised concerns over elections’ transparency.

On a question about a possible change of Balochistan chief minister, Mr Bhutto-Zardari has vehemently denied the reports as baseless. “We never change our chief ministers. It might be a habit of Balochistan and of your own to change the CM, but PPP has no [such] plan.”

Rumours have been circulating on social media about removing Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti and replacing him with a JUI-F member as an incentive for the party to join the coalition provincial government.

However, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the JUI-F emir, also refuted the reports and reiterated that his party will not join any government.

The PPP leader hailed the performance of CM Bugti and credited him for introducing tangible reforms in various sectors including health, education, youth development and women empowerment.

He added that the provincial government has planned to build a state of the art hospital on the pattern of Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences and NICVD in Sindh.

The PPP chairman said that Balochistan government has been asked to expedite the compensation process for the affectees of 2022 floods.

“The housing project for those affected by the 2022 floods will be accelerated,” he said, referring to the success of a similar initiative in Sindh. PPP Balochistan Presi­dent Mir Changez Khan Jamali; General Secretary Rozi Khan Kakar; provincial ministers Mir Sadiq Umrani, Mir Ali Ma­­dad Jattak; and MNA Ejaz Jakhrani were also present during the press conference.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2024