'Imran Khan is my leader,' Pervez Khattak says after heated argument with PM

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak on Thursday said Prime Minister Imran Khan is his "leader" and he has no disagreements with him, Geo News reported.

Khattak's comments came after reports started circulating on the media about the two PTI leaders exchanging heated words during the party’s parliamentary meeting.

According to sources, the former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told the premier that "we made you the premier through our votes."

It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI parliamentary meeting was called to take the party’s leadership into confidence regarding the supplementary finance bill which is to be tabled in the National Assembly.

However, according to reports, the situation turned sour as PM Imran Khan's most-supporting colleagues Khattak and Noor Alam, along with other members, showed serious reservations about inflation, the mini-budget, and the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) bill.

Sources further said that Khattak criticised PM Imran Khan, saying, “gas is banned in KP despite the province being the producer of gas and electricity. Yet, it is facing difficulties.”

“We have voted for you to become the prime minister, but if your behaviour remains the same, then we will not vote for you the next time,” Khattak warned.

Sources further revealed that after listening to Khattak's remarks, the premier tried leaving the meeting saying, “If you are not satisfied with me then, I will hand this government to somebody else.” 

However, senior party leaders stopped the premier from leaving.

Later on, Khattak clarified that he had "never disagreed with PM Khan," adding that they had "only had a discussion related to gas issues."

'Shocked to see media reports'

Answering a question after a separate meeting with the premier, Khattak said: "I have hundred per cent trust in PM Imran Khan; we only discussed some issues in the meeting."

He further added that he was "shocked" to see reports on media that implied had created some "ruckus" during the meeting.

"I didn’t say anything along the lines of not voting for PM Imran Khan again," Khattak said while refuting all rumours about having a forward block in the party.

He stated that during the meeting, he only raised questions regarding the gas issue in KP.

Requesting the media to stop creating a mountain out of a molehill, the minister said: "This is our internal matter; I am not against Prime Minister Imran Khan."