PPP not exiting ruling coalition: Siddiqui

ISLAMABAD:

PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui has shot down speculation about the PPP jumping ship from the ruling coalition, asserting that the party has no intention of throwing the country into yet another political crisis.

During an interview with a private news channel, Siddiqui said that the PPP “would not want the country going into another crisis” by withdrawing from the government alliance.

“If the National Assembly dissolves, we would head towards another instability, and another election would be demanded. If elections are held here [in NA], then what would happen in the provinces?

“So, the country would then go into another crisis. My opinion is that given how Pakistan is steering out of difficulties, the PPP would not want the country going towards a crisis again,” he said.

His remarks came in response to a question about the PPP potentially leaving the coalition by refusing to support the upcoming federal budget.

Siddiqui acknowledged that the possibility of the PPP walking away remained real. “Undoubtedly, if the PPP decided even today ‘we are not supporting the government’ then we can be voted out tomorrow because the PML-N does not have the [simple] majority.”

However, he stressed that neither the PPP nor the PTI could form a government alone, given their failure to secure a simple majority in last year’s general elections.

The senator reaffirmed the need to uphold the PML-N’s agreement with the PPP.

“PPP has a [history] of democratic struggle, it wants to maintain the parliament and not put the system into chaos. National interests are dearer to it [and] it does not want to do politics of violence.

“So, in all these aspects, [the PPP] is now instinctively very close to us (PML-N), regardless of what our ideologies are.”

Siddiqui acknowledged the PPP’s reservations and said efforts were underway to address them, with a committee formed under Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar.

“We will definitely resolve these reservations,” he asserted.

It is pertinent to note that in January, the PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) demanded that the federal government hold long-overdue local government polls in Punjab and Islamabad, in line with its agreement with the ruling coalition.

The party has also repeatedly raised concerns over the construction of controversial canals in Punjab’s Cholistan region.

It has called for an urgent meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), which has been in limbo for 11 months, urging that the canal issue be put on the table.