ISLAMABAD: Amid growing skirmishes between two key ruling coalition parties over the issues of Punjab-only power tariff subsidy and the federal government’s policy of downsizing ministries, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has invited the PPP leaders on Thursday (today) for a meeting to sort out differences, Dawn has learnt through sources.

“Yes, [PPP] chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has received a formal invitation from the prime minister for a meeting at the PM House [on Thursday] which will be followed by a dinner,” said a source in the PPP on Wednesday.

The source said that though it was not clear yet, the PPP delegation was expected to include party’s parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Reh­man, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and veteran leader Syed Naveed Qamar as the party planned to discuss some future legislative agenda as well.

The prime minister is likely to be assisted in the meeting by Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Adviser on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah and some other key members of his cabinet.

Premier to host dinner for PPP chief today

Mr Bhutto-Zardari has already arrived in Islamabad. He chaired a meeting of the party’s central Punjab chapter at Zardari House on Wedn­esday which, according to a handout, discussed the political situation and PPP’s organisational matters.

The prime minister has called the meeting after the issues of soaring electricity tariffs and rightsizing of ministries as part of austerity measures triggered a war of words between the ruling allies, with the PPP criticising the PML-N-led federal and Punjab governments.

The friction escalated on Friday when PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, alongside his daughter Maryam Nawaz, anno­unced a Rs14 per unit relief for those consumers in Punjab who use between 200 and 500 units per month. This announcement was met with disdain from the PPP-led Sindh government and the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

Both provinces, apparently lacking resources to offer similar relief, blasted both the federal and Punjab governments.

PM Sharif on Tuesday came to the Punjab government’s rescue, saying the Centre had not provided a single penny to the province.

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the PM asked other provinces to follow in Punjab’s footsteps by reallocating their development funds to provide similar relief to electricity consumers.

“Instead of politicking, provincial governments should follow Punjab’s course of action to provide relief to their people by utilising funds from trillions of rupees transferred to them under the National Finance Commission awa­rd,” he had reportedly stated.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah accused the PML-N of introducing costly power plants decades ago, which, he argued, had led to the high electricity costs. He said Sindh would focus on developing its own coal and solar power plants that the province had been barred from until now.

Mr Shah accused the federal government of neglecting Sindh, claiming that many projects requiring federal funds remained stalled.

The PPP has expressed serious reservations over the centre’s policy on rightsizing of ministries.

Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, a member of the committee set up to address the issue, had rejected the composition of the committee.

He stated that only one PPP member and one private member had been nominated to the body, as most other members were from PML-N.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024