LAHORE: Pakistan Peo­ples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced on Saturday that he would contest the 2018 general elections from Larkana, the National Assembly seat from which his late mother returned to parliament, and become prime minister.

“With the help of people, I will become prime minister in 2018. The president will also be from the PPP,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said. He was addressing party workers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Bilawal House here on Saturday.

He took a jibe at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, saying that he, Mr Bhutto-Zardari, could replace him if the premier could not perform well. At this the party workers started shouting the slogan “Go Nawaz go”. He said after the 2018 elections, the PPP flag would be hoisted everywhere in the country.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari further said that he would contest from the seat his mother ran the election from in Larkana, but the timing for this would be decided by the party. Party sources said that Mr Bhutto-Zardari would contest the by-poll from the Larkana seat NA-207, which is being vacated by his aunt Faryal Talpur.

When the party workers shouted slogans against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, Mr Bhutto-Zaradri asked them not to do that as he was his “favourite uncle”.

The PPP chairman said after the Jhang by-election, the National Action Plan (NAP) framed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had been exposed. An independent candidate being supported by the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) had won the by-poll in Jhang last week.

Former attorney general and PPP leader Sardar Latif Khosa told Dawn that Mr Bhutto-Zardari was eligible to become prime minister. Under the Constitution, he said, any person above the age of 25 could become a member of the National Assembly. “And any member of the National Assembly can become prime minister,” Mr Khosa said, adding that the PML-N would realise it how unpopular it was in the 2018 elections.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2016