ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said that people leaving the country under a deal with the dictator was also NRO however its name was “plea bargain” then, DawnNews reported.

He was addressing the PPP members of national and provincial assemblies, office-holders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Peoples Student Federation (PSF) and Peoples Youth Organization (PYO) from Sargodha Division at the Prime Minister House.

The prime minister said that PPP was the name of an ideology and constant struggle irrespective of whether it stayed in or out of power.

He said that “we came into power because of people, while others stepped into corridors of power through other means.” “We play politics of principles whereas others change their principles for sake of power,” he added.

He said, “we believed that only the people were the source and repository of all powers.”

The prime minister said that NRO was in the thick of discussions these days but NROs have been the order of the day in the past also which were named as “plea bargains.”

He said that going abroad under a deal was also NRO. In essence, there is no difference between both except that, we are victimised while others are rewarded, he added.

Gilani said that regretfully all dictators were portrayed as innocent, while all politicians are considered corrupt.

The PM said that he had 124 MNAs in an Assembly of 342, which were 50 votes short of the simple majority. Despite this, he was the longest serving elected prime minister of the country.