LAHORE: PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah has said the opposition will get united in a month that will be followed by in-house change, but his party won’t be part of the setup to be formed afterwards.

“Not only the opposition will be united in one month, but there will also be in-house change [in the National Assembly] that we won’t oppose. However, the PML-N will not be part of the setup formed in the wake of sending the PTI government home,” the former law minister told a presser here on Thursday.

Targeting Prime Minister Imran Khan, Sanaullah said: “For the economy the PTI government has proved to be coronavirus. Imran Khan has failed to deliver but his government was targeting its opponents through the state institutions and got registered fake cases against them. Imran Khan has destroyed the economy [of the country].”

He said despite the propaganda against opposition leader in the National Assembly, he [Shahbaz Sharif] talked about the Charter of Democracy (CoD).

Chiding the Buzdar administration for not allowing extension in the stay of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif abroad for his treatment, Mr Sanaullah said the decision on the treatment of Mr Sharif had to be taken by the doctors in London. “We will move the court against the Punjab government’s decision,” he added.

To a question about the PML-N’s protest plan against the unprecedented price hike, inflation and unemployment, he said: “Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman have their protest plans, but all of us will have to be on one platform in this regard.”

Replying to another question about the return of Shahbaz Sharif, Mr Sanaullah said: “The PML-N president is in London to look after his ailing elder brother. When Mian Sahib will get well Shahbaz Sharif will return.”

Earlier, Mr Sanaullah had claimed that Shahbaz Sharif would return next month (March).

He said the PTI government’s step to declare Nawaz Sharif as an absconder would be another example of political victimisation of its opponents, as it had refused to come out of “Nawaz phobia”.

On the occasion, Islamabad High Court Bar Association secretary general Umair Baloch announced joining the PML-N.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020