Two federal ministers have reportedly advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to reach out to estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen, following earlier reports that Tareen had met with opposition leaders.
Sources close to the matter told the Express Tribune that when the two minister’s approached the premier, their suggestion was met with a ‘stony silence from him.’
Meanwhile, the opposition continued to court members in government to support their no-confidence motion against the incumbent government, most recently contacting the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). The sources relayed that PML-Q had offered to support the motion in return for the position of Punjab chief minister (CM).
Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi would be the likely candidate for the chief minister role. The sources further calculated that if he was given the CM seat, then the next prime minister would likely be from the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), should the no-confidence motion succeed.
On Saturday, PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif reportedly held a ‘secret‘ meeting with Jehangir Tareen to discuss the ouster of the PTI government.
PML-N MPA Hamza Shehbaz had told reporters at Dawn earlier that his party was “in contact with everyone (including the [Jahangir Khan Tareen] JKT group) as our sole target is removing Imran Khan.”
