LAHORE: Shahbaz Sharif says he himself had preferred the office of chief minister to that of the prime minister.

“I myself had requested Mr Nawaz Sharif not to elevate me to the office of prime minister out of fear that mega development projects in Punjab would be left unattended,” he said in response to a question during a press conference here on Wednesday.

“It’s [an] honour for me that the PML-N parliamentary party unanimously supported my name to take over the office of prime minister after Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was to serve [as stopgap arrangement] for 45 days. Instead of serving in Islamabad I chose to continue as chief minister to be able to directly oversee clean water, rural roads, orange line metro train and other projects.”

After being disqualified as prime minister through Supreme Court’s July 28 Panama verdict, Nawaz Sharif had wished that Mr Shahbaz, his younger brother, should succeed him. And until Shahbaz’s election to the National Assembly, Mr Abbasi will serve as the stopgap arrangement.

The proposal was withdrawn and Mr Abbasi was asked to continue until expiry of the existing assembly’s term in May 2018 when chief minister’s close aide and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah publicly opposed it fearing it could hamper development agenda of the PML-N as well as force the party into election mode before [election] time.

However, insiders say that nomination of Mr Shahbaz was just a ploy to keep at bay ‘unwanted’ candidates for the office of prime minister. They claim that some leaders didn’t want Mr Abbasi to continue [as PM] for the rest of the term of seven or eight months and they were “tricked” into accepting the nomination by first presenting him mere as a stopgap arrangement for 45 days.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2017