Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif says Nawaz Sharif would have been elected prime minister for a fourth time if the PML-N leaders had made a strategy based on consensus in the pre-2018 election period.
Shehbaz was responding to a question by Saleem Safi on Geo News programme, ‘Jirga’, about whether or not he was offered prime ministership before the 2018 elections on the condition that he would abandon his brother Nawaz Sharif and niece Maryam Nawaz.
When asked why was he failing to convince Nawaz Sharif and Maryam of the need for reconciliation, Shehbaz Sharif said he believed in “natural reconciliation”. Shehbaz said he wanted everyone to set aside their personal egos and join hands to eradicate poverty from the country. He further added that every matter in the party is decided with consultation, and his viewpoint is known to everyone.
The former Punjab chief minister said he was offered the prime ministership twice over the last couple of decades, adding that one of these offers was made by former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and later, by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.
He said no single individual or a single institution was responsible for a weak democracy in the country, and “everyone is a culprit” [Is hamam me sab nangay hain].
Shehbaz Sharif said that Imran Khan had failed to deliver despite being provided all-out support by the establishment.
Shehbaz Sharif rejected the notion that he was about to resign from the party’s presidency, describing it as “fake news”.
A report in Daily Jang published last week stated that Shehbaz was angry after his strategy for the Azad Kashmir elections was ignored, resulting in the party’s loss. Thus, he threatened to quit party leadership. “When I was finally allowed to speak during the budget session, after four days of chaos [in parliament], I said the budget is a fake one since the people’s pockets are empty. Similarly, just like the budget, this news report is also fake.”
Shehbaz said that PML-N is his home and that Nawaz Sharif, every party leader, worker, and women [leaders] over the past 40 years have played their role in building the party. He also rejected the accusation that he helped his brother flee the country, saying that it was propaganda.
