Imran, Zardari two sides of same coin: Nawaz

NANKANA SAHIB: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that rival Imran Khan and Asif Ali Zardari are the two sides of the same coin, adding that both are deceiving the nation.

Nawaz Sharif was addressing a Pakistan Muslim League-N rally in Sangla Hill, where he said that his rivals made an alliance owing 'to his fear'.

He said that the voters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf voted for the Pakistan People’s Party in the recently held Senate polls.

“Those calling each other thieves have shaken hands now,” said Nawaz, terming both his rivals ‘pawns’.

Nawaz said to the rally participants that 'pawns' don’t do anything for the public. 

The former prime minister said that his party has started educational and development projects in the district of Nankana Sahib.

He said that his party has delivered through its performance and ended the menace of loadshedding across the country. 

Vote given to Imran will go to Zardari too: Maryam

Earlier, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Safdar addressed the rally.

Maryam Nawaz said that the public has seen ‘the farce which ensued in the Senate polls’, claiming that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan and Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari have covertly shaken hands.

“Both are the same from the inside,” said the former first daughter, adding ‘the vote you will give to Imran will go to Zardari too’.

Earlier, PML-N leader Hamza Shehbaz spoke to the participants of the rally. He said that the party workers had always stood firm with the former prime minister.

He said that due to Nawaz Sharif and his efforts the country came out of the shadows of darkness.

The ruling PML-N has been holding a series of rallies across the country, garnering support for its political narrative.

Nawaz, who was disqualified as premier and head of his party by the Supreme Court in separate cases, has been raising the slogan of respecting the vote.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) held a party rally in Kotli Sattian, where party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari questioned Nawaz Sharif's slogan of 'respecting the vote'.

Addressing party supporters, the PPP chairman recalled the relationship of the tehsil with the party.

"Nawaz thinks democracy linked to him only," he said, terming the former prime minister Gen (retd) Ziaul Haq's "opening batsmen".

Referring to Nawaz's recent tirade against the opposition parties, Bilawal said the PML-N leader, and not the PPP leader, is the biggest wound up toy, whose key is broken at present.

The PPP chief also questioned the democratic credentials of Nawaz, reminding him of his role in various incidents, including anti-PPP moves in the past such as supporting former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's ouster by the Supreme Court.

Apart from the mainstream political parties, other parties have also launched similar public mobilisation drives ahead of the general elections, expected sometime in July.