PTI doubles down on Bilawal, says PPP and PML-N 'two sides of the same coin'

• "PDM partners staging a new play to deceive nation after polls".
• PPP, PML-N acting as opponents after dividing top portfolios: PTI.
• Imran-led party blames PPP, PML-N for inflation, economic crisis.

As power politics is in full swing to form the new government in the Centre, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has come down hard on Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s press conference, saying that the "nation cannot be fooled by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) political drama of being opponents'."

After the much-debated February 8 general election, Imran Khan-picked candidates emerged as the largest group by winning 92 National Assembly seats followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 79 and 54 seats, respectively, whereas the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) secured the fourth position with 17 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Top parties expedited efforts and immediately swung into action to gather coalition partners in a bid to achieve numbers for forming the next government in the Centre and provinces.

Earlier, Bilawal announced supporting the PML-N candidate for the prime minister's slot, however, he clarified that his party would not be part of the next government in the Centre nor it would accept any federal ministries.

The Imran-led party termed Bilawal and Nawaz-led parties "two sides of the same coin".

Responding to the PPP's decision, the Imran-led party alleged that the former Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) partners were staging a new play to deceive the nation after the February 8 nationwide polls.

"Asif Ali Zardari's son would have been accepting PTI's mandate and condemning the dishonouring of votes instead of forging nexus with 'pirates of Jati Umra'," an official statement issued by the former ruling party read.

The Imran-founded party also alleged that both PPP and PML-N had already divided top portfolios and now they were acting as opponents ahead of the formation of the new government. "The nation would not be fooled, again by their acting."

It also stated that the Nawaz and Bilawal-led parties were equally responsible for inflation and the deteriorated national economy. The Imran-led party will thwart all 'conspiracies' of the PPP, and the PML-N, and will protect the nation from their evil deeds, its spokesperson said.

The former ruling party, which rose to power in 2018, emerged as one of the most popular parties as several of its ticket holders won National Assembly (NA) seats despite contesting the 2024 nationwide polls as independent candidates and with separate electoral signs after losing its iconic ‘bat’ symbol.

However, the PTI announced earlier in the day to not forge any coalition with the PPP and PML-N; and would choose to join hands with Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen (MWM) to form its governments in Centre and Punjab and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).