Bilawal dares Nawaz to debate duel ahead of election

• Globally, candidates participate in televised debates, says Bilawal.
• He says it provides voters with crucial insights into their plans.
• PML-N doesn’t know what to do after winning polls, adds Bilawal.

In a bid to provide voters with crucial insights into their plans, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Friday invited Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif to engage in a debate with him anywhere before the February 8 general elections in the country.

The blame game and trade of rhetoric between leaderships of the PPP and the PML-N — two key allies in the former Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government — have intensified as the country moves closer to polls.

Taking to his X handle, formerly known as Twitter, Bilawal said: “I invite the PM candidate of @pmln_org, @NawazSharifMNS, to engage in a debate with me anytime, anywhere before Feb 8.”

He further said globally, presidential and prime ministerial candidates participate in televised debates, providing voters with crucial insights into their plans.

“This transparency is vital for an informed electorate ahead of the voting process,” he added.

Earlier this month, Bilawal had been nominated as the party’s candidate for the slot of prime minister in the upcoming general elections.

The decision was taken by the PPP’s top decision-making body — the Central Executive Committee (CEC) — which met at Bilawal House in Lahore to discuss the party’s campaign for the upcoming general election.

Eying on regaining his party’s lost glory in Punjab, the PPP chairman has been holding mass public gatherings in the province these days.

Earlier today, firing a fresh salvo at the PML-N, the PPP stalwart vowed to hunt “lion” amid “raining arrows” on February 8.

Referring to the rising incidents of terrorism, skyrocketing inflation, unemployment and economic crisis being faced by the country, Bilawal said his party would fight against the menace of terror and economic crisis.

“Those who turn politics into personal enmity have divided the nation,” Bilawal said and vowed to end the politics of hatred and division once and for all.

The PPP leader said that his party presented a 10-point economic agenda to rid the people of problems. He retreated to abolish 17 federal ministries if voted to power, Rs1,500 billion subsidy provided to elite class would be spent on the masses, he added.

The PPP stalwart promised to build three million houses for the poor.

Coming down hard on the PML-N, Bilawal said that Sharifs were giving the wrong impression about Lahore, adding that streets were dilapidated in the Punjab’s capital too.

The PML-N could not present its manifesto even just days before the upcoming elections, he took a dig at the former ruling party.

“They don't know what to do after winning [elections],” he added.

Dubbing Nawaz the “thief” of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the PPP chairman clarified that the game-changer project was initiated by his father and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

Likewise, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the country’s nuclear programme, he added.