Islamabad, June 18: In an effort to smoothen angry ruffles in the ruling alliance, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is likely to meet PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari following the latter’s criticism for not taking the party’s inputs while preparing the annual budget 2024-25.
Sources told ARY News that the prime minister held a telephonic conversation with Bilawal, former foreign minister, on the occasion of Eid-al Adha.
PM Shehbaz also invited Bilawal for a meeting at the Prime Minister’s House after Eid, which the latter has accepted.
The meeting between PM Shehbaz and Bilawal is expected to focus on resolving outstanding issues between the two parties.
Earlier, it was reported that the PML-N-led federal government has intensified efforts to placate the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) amid the budget rift.
The previous round of talks between the government and the Pakistan People’s Party ended without a breakthrough. PPP has decided not to back down from its demands.
The PPP has vowed to continue protesting until its concerns are addressed, sources said, noting that the absence of Bilawal Bhutto and Aseefa Bhutto from the budget session last Wednesday was a clear message of its dissatisfaction.
Finance Minister Aurangzeb presented the PKR18.877 trillion relief-oriented federal budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.
The budget session started with a nearly two-hour delay after the PPP voiced reservations on the development allocations.
The Bilawal Bhutto-led party earlier decided not to attend the Pakistan Budget 2024 session in the National Assembly, but the PML-N managed to placate them.
Later, the PPP lawmakers attended the session to complete the required quorum but minus the presence of party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Earlier, Khurshid Shah said the party had reservations with regard to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) budget and that the PPP should have been taken into confidence for the budget.
“It was decided that the PSDP for the four provinces would be decided together,” he said while speaking to the media.
Meanwhile, Senate Chairman Yusuf Raza Gilani, who is also the PPP leader, has demanded that the government uphold the written agreement made at the time of the government’s formation.
While addressing reporters after Eid-al Adha prayers in Multan, Gilani stated that the PPP and its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have concerns that the written agreement made with the party at the time of government formation should be implemented.
When a delegation of the Pakistan Muslim League-N visited his Senate office, he said that he had told them that the PPP has no other agreement with them and their sole demand was that the written agreements made previously should be upheld.
The demand for allocating space in the Punjab government was also part of that agreement, he said and added that it should be implemented as well.
Punjab is currently ruled by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, who brooks no interference in her functioning style, upsetting the PPP.
