LAHORE: A day after the PML-N-led federal government presented a\u00a0mini-budget\u00a0imposing more taxes and hiked the price of petrol, the party\u2019s chief organiser, Maryam Nawaz, distanced herself not only from the \u201cunpopular\u201d moves but also from the government.<\/p>\n
Talking to party workers and leaders in Model Town, she said, \u201cThis coalition government of nine parties is not our government. Our government will be that of Nawaz Sharif.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently, her remarks were aimed to pacify the party\u2019s voters after the government imposed new taxes worth Rs170bn in an attempt to unlock the deal with the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n
She also said the PML-N-led coalition government got \u201creal\u201d power after the retirement of former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in November last year. \u201cBefore November, someone else was running the government,\u201d she had said in a media talk in Bahawalpur.<\/p>\n
Meets Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to \u2018sort out differences\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In January, Ms Sharif was\u00a0appointed\u00a0the party\u2019s chief organiser by the PML-N leadership.<\/p>\n
She was tasked with \u201creorganising the party\u201d and rejuvenating the voters at a time when a worsening economic crisis has forced the government to make unpopular choices, resulting in a steep rise in inflation.<\/p>\n
Since her\u00a0return to Pakistan\u00a0from London last month, Ms Sharif has been addressing rallies and meeting party workers across Punjab to build some momentum before the general elections in October.<\/p>\n
Abbasi meets Maryam<\/strong><\/p>\n
The PML-N chief organiser also met \u2018estranged\u2019 party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Lahore on Thursday and asked him to \u2018support\u2019 her to strengthen the party.<\/p>\n
The meeting came days after\u00a0reports of differences\u00a0between the two emerged following Mr Abbasi\u2019s resignation as the PML-N\u2019s senior vice president in what he called \u201ca bid to give Ms Sharif more space to work\u201d.<\/p>\n
The meeting at the party\u2019s Model Town secretariat lasted for around 90 minutes. After the meeting, Mr Abbasi left without talking to reporters.<\/p>\n
Mr Abbasi\u2019s dash to Lahore to meet Ms Sharif surprised many in the party after the latter earlier expressed the desire to meet the former prime minister to sort out differences.He added that Ms Sharif wanted the former prime minister to \u2018support\u2019 her in running the party affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe also asked him to stop issuing statements with regard to her elevation in the party ranks and if he has any issue over ticket distribution in his area or else, he should bring it to her knowledge first to get it sorted out,\u201d the PML-N leader said.<\/p>\n
Mr Abbasi resigned from his post in the party\u2019s hierarchy after Ms Sharif was appointed senior vice president and chief organiser last month.<\/p>\n
Mr Abbasi had said the \u201cbasic principle\u201d behind his resignation was to provide Ms Sharif with an \u201copen field\u201d as she assumed the new responsibilities. He however declared he was not quitting the party as he had been with Ms Sharif\u2019s father, Nawaz Sharif, for 30 years.<\/p>\n
Despite his party being in power, Mr Abbasi is considered towing a line contradictory to the party\u2019s policies. He, along with ousted foreign minister Miftah Ismail and other like-minded leaders from across the political arena, has been holding seminars and press conferences under the theme \u201cReimagining Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Abbasi is not alone in his criticism of the party. PML-N senior leader and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan has also criticised the party leadership for \u201cturning a blind eye to public issues and ignoring workers\u201d. He has also announced stepping down from the party post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE: A day after the PML-N-led federal government presented a\u00a0mini-budget\u00a0imposing more taxes and hiked the price of petrol, the party\u2019s chief organiser, Maryam Nawaz, distanced herself not only from the \u201cunpopular\u201d moves but also from the government. Talking to party workers and leaders in Model Town, she said, \u201cThis coalition government of nine parties is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113513,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113511\/revisions\/113513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/113512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}