Pakistan: Bilawal Bhutto says PPP won't be part of federal govt

Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that they won't be joining any coalition federal government, adding that they would only lend outside support to whichever party stakes claim to power.

Briefing the reporters in Islamabad, Bilawal said that the party's support would be based on an issue-to-issue basis, highlighting that they are not interested in securing ministry portfolios.

"The PPP has made the decision that we may not be a part of the government but we will engage with political parties on the issue of votes and the election of prime minister," he said.

“I am assuring the public that the Parliament will be formed and it is a forum where their issues will be resolved,” Bilawal added.

The PPP chief further said that he would like to see his father Asif Ali Zardari become the president.

“And I am not saying this because he is my father. I am saying this because the country is in a huge crisis at the moment and if anyone has the capacity to douse this fire, it is Asif Ali Zardari,” he asserted.

The remarks come at a time when both former prime minister Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif expressed their intentions to form a coalition government.

PTI spokesperson Raoof Hassan has said party founder Imran Khan had given the go-ahead to the party for the formation of the government with the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in the Centre and Punjab.

“And in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for reserved seats, we will form a coalition with the Jamaat-i-Islami,” he said.

“Imran has a clear message that formation of a government is the right of who had won the elections,” he told a press conference in Islamabad. Hassan said “power wielders” must introspect their actions.

Earlier, there were reports that PML-N leader and Nawaz Sharif's brother Shehbaz Sharif met the top PPP leadership to discuss seat-sharing talks for the coalition government at the Centre.

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