Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif assures Bilawal Bhutto-led PPP of addressing its concerns over budget

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assured Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari that the government would take steps to address the key ally’s reservations on multiple issues by forming a committee after tensions rose among ruling coalition partners over the budget.

A delegation of the PPP headed by Bilawal on Thursday met Prime Minister Sharif to sort out differences over the budget which was presented in Parliament last week.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the federal budget on June 12 but the PPP, which is the major ally of the government, was not happy as it was not consulted when the budget was being prepared.

As the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government lacks a majority, there is a genuine concern that the government may not be able to get the budget passed in Parliament if not supported by the PPP.

Geo News reported that Sharif assured Bilawal Bhutto of taking steps to address the key concerns.

The Dawn newspaper quoting sources said that the differences have been settled, with both sides agreeing to support each other and cooperate on issues of mutual concern.

According to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, some “minor” reservations had been expressed by the PPP, which would be resolved by the government through talks.

He said the government also formed a committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to take up the issue with the PPP and would take the dialogue forward in light of the meeting between Sharif and Bilawal.

On the other hand, PPP sources said the premier agreed with the party chairperson on most issues as the latter expressed annoyance with him for bypassing his party on budget matters.

Bhutto complained that the PPP had joined the government under an agreement with which the PML-N did not comply. The Prime Minister has also formed a committee to resolve the disagreement.

Officials said the PPP delegation also included Chairman Senate Yusuf Raza Gilani, former premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and senior leaders Syed Khurshid Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar and Sherry Rehman.

The discussion focused on the “national political issues” and it was agreed that further consultation would be held with the PPP regarding the budget 2024-2025, sources said.

It was also decided that further consultation on the budget would continue through committees of the parties.

Bilawal complained about the alleged neglect towards some projects in his home province of Sindh and that his party was not taken on board with the Public Sector Development Programme.

The prime minister on his part said that positive news was coming with regard to the economy, as the historic boom in the stock market was an endorsement of the budget. He urged all political parties to work together for national development, according to the sources.

Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, Deputy Prime Minister Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervez Malik and former minister Khawaja Saad Rafique were also present in the meeting.

The government must get the budget passed by June 30 when the current fiscal year would end, making way for the new 2024-25 fiscal year.

Although the PPP has not become part of the federal cabinet, the party supported the PML-N-led in forming government after the February 8 elections.

Earlier, the PPP censured the PML-N-led government in the Centre for taking a "solo flight" and not taking it into confidence over the budget.

The Bilawal-led party had even announced boycotting the budget session last week — a decision the party recanted after Deputy Prime Minister Senator Dar held multiple meetings with the PPP's top leaders to convince them otherwise last week on June 12.