PM Abbasi has one-point agenda to get NRO for Nawaz: Imran

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has a “one-point agenda” of getting former premier Nawaz Sharif a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Khan responded to PM Abbasi’s recent remarks about the Senate polls saying it was a common knowledge that “money works” in Senate polls.

“I have been saying this for years: money works in [Senate] polls. Did they not know this before? Now that they have lost, they are [crying] that the elections [were manipulated],” the PTI chief said.

“There can be no alliance with corrupt leaders like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari,” he reiterated.

He further claimed that both Nawaz Sharif and former dictator Pervez Musharraf had offered him seats in the past.

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Khan also lashed out at the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as he drew attention to provincial budget allocations.

Claiming that 55 percent of Punjab’s budget had been spent on the provincial capital alone, he said, adding, “This amount [spent on Lahore] is three times of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's budget.”

“Half of the budget of Punjab or Lahore goes to [construction] of roads,” Khan said, adding that the “people of Multan never needed the Metro Bus service in the first place.”

“Even despite Rs60 billion spent on Multan’s Metro Bus project, the buses are running empty,” he continued, and called on the National Accountability Bureau to “once again probe into the project.”

Taking direct aim at Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the PTI chairman asked why the Shehbaz and Begum Kulsoom — Nawaz’s wife who is undergoing treatment for cancer in London — have had to resort to travelling abroad for medical treatment.

“Shehbaz Sharif failed to build a single hospital during his tenure where he or Begum Kulsoom Nawaz could be treated,” he said, drawing comparison to Shaukat Khanum Hospital. “It is the best hospital [in Pakistan]. I received medical care there twice.”

Khan further vowed to continue “informing the public about the ruling party’s corruption.”