Will make new province in southern Punjab, says Bilawal during Multan rally

MULTAN: PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said the PPP will make a new province in southern Punjab as the region has been denied its fair share of resources by those who rule from Raiwind.  

"We will make a new province in southern Punjab if you [the people] are with me," said the PPP chairperson while addressing a significant crown in Multan. 

He added that the people of the region have been treated unfairly and almost no development has taken place in southern Punjab.

Bilawal also alleged that the budget for flora in Lahore is more than the budget of southern Punjab. 

Bilawal criticised PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif by questioning his ideology and asked what ideology does Nawaz follow. 

"Is it the ideology that he swore to defend while he was at Zia's grave?"

He further said that if the parliament has weakened, its due to the politics of Nawaz and his party. 

The PPP chairperson also said Shehbaz Sharif, the incumbent chief minister of Punjab, is responsible for the conditions in Punjab, specifically southern Punjab. 

"Shehbaz Sharif, you will have to pay for your corruption, you will be held accountable for the martyrs of Model Town, you will be held accountable for Multan Metro project and you will be held accountable for Hudaibiya Paper Mills." 

'Imran should learn etiquettes of politics'

Turning his criticism towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, Bilawal referred to him as a "soldier of Maulana Sami-ul-Haq".

He also said that Imran should learn the etiquettes of politics, as the language used by PTI can only be "matched by those who did a sit-in at Faizabad".

Bilawal added that Imran's politics revolves around bringing back funds stolen from the country but he is surrounded by those who keep their funds abroad. 

"Imran Khan, this will be my first election and it will be your last."

Agriculture friendly policies 

Focusing on the issues facing the farmers of the region, Bilawal said if the PPP comes to power, there will be no GST on agriculture input.

He added that as part of his party's favourable policies towards farmers, the price of agriculture would be set before harvest and there would be an equal distribution of water. 

"We want to further the agriculture agenda to better the lot of farmers," said Bilawal and added that the party has always supported farmers through its policies. 

"We will not let Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan ruin the agriculture industry of the country and we will introduce cooperative farming." 

The people are getting poorer while power is concentrated in the hands of a few, said the PPP chairperson.

Praising the people of Multan, Bilawal said he can always count on the city to support PPP. 

Speaking before his son and chairman of the party, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that it was due to Nawaz's policies that Musharraf came to power and it is due to his policies that there is a clash with the establishment. 

"There is a limit to everything, Nawaz reached the limit and hence fell," said Zardari. 

Earlier, Bilawal and Zardari reached the rally venue in Multan to address party supporters and workers in another apparent show of political strength. 

Khawaja Rizwan Alam, the party's senior vice-president for South Punjab, had said that as many as 80,000 chairs have been set up for the party workers at the Qasim Bagh stadium, and the party is expecting 150,000 people to attend the gathering.

The rally organisers had claimed that the stage will have the capacity to accommodate 200 leaders.