PML-N takes credit for 'significantly reducing corruption' in previous tenures

• Nawaz stresses TI report on reduced corruption during Shehbaz rule.
• Claims no one would be unemployed if his govt continued its term.
• Promises to bring back country's glory if PML-N voted into power.

With the electioneering taking pace and political parties propagating their election manifesto to woo the masses ahead of the February 8 polls, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has claimed to have effectively addressed corruption during its previous tenure.

The remarks were made by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who, while addressing a political gathering in Gujranwala on Saturday, cited the Transparency International report which reflected Pakistan's improvement in its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).

Last month, the watchdog revealed that the country was ranked 133 out of 180 countries during the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government compared to that of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Imran Khan-led rule wherein the country was ranked 140.

Without taking any names, Nawaz took a jibe at the PTI, which for years had claimed to eliminate corruption, and said: "[Even] Transparency International said that corruption was at its lowest during our tenure.

"They [PTI] were staging sit-ins [while] we were establishing power plants," the three-time former prime minister said while recalling the 2014 sit-in by then Khan-led party.

Recalling his tenure as the country's chief executive from 2013 to 2017, Nawaz claimed that the PML-N government not only succeeded in tackling corruption but also effectively addressed rampant inflation.

"No one present here in this gathering would be unemployed if our government had continued its term.

"People are struggling to pay their electricity bills," the PML-N supremo said while promising to bring back the country's glory if he is voted into power.

Nawaz's remarks come as the party has been pushing its economic agenda in the wake of dire economic indicators that have gripped the country in recent months.

The PML-N's election manifesto is primarily facing challenges from the Bilawal Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which is also promising major economic relief provisioning social welfare, free healthcare and electricity, to gain public support who have been facing the brunt of rampant inflation and soaring utility bills.