Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has assured PTI Chairman Imran Khan of standing by his side as the opposition in the provincial assembly mulls ways to overthrow the PTI-PML-Q-led coalition government in the province.
Khan — who called off his long march to Islamabad last week — has announced quitting assemblies across the country, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
The party’s leadership, according to PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry, has approved the dissolution of assemblies in both provinces, but the final decision will be made after further consultations.
The opposition — PML-N and the allied parties — has said that it would not back down from a challenge, but stressed that snap polls were not in the country’s favour.
In his meeting with Khan at the PTI chief’s Lahore residence Thursday, Elahi once again pledged his loyalty and stressed that he “owed” the Punjab Assembly to the former prime minister.
Elahi said he would not “hesitate for a moment” when Khan orders him to dissolve the assembly as he will keep supporting all of the PTI chief’s decisions.
He added that the elements behind creating misconceptions in the camps of PTI and PML-Q would “fail again” as he slammed the opposition for claiming that they were in contact with the government’s lawmakers.