PM Imran Khan has approved Usman Buzdar’s ouster: Bashir Cheema claims citing PTI ministers

ISLAMABAD: PML-Q’s federal minister Tariq Bashir Cheema on Friday said that PTI ministers have told him that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given the approval to remove Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Meanwhile, sources within PML-Q said that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, federal ministers Asad Umar and Pervaiz Khattak consulted with PML-Q leaders Moonis Elahi and Cheema.

As per sources, Cheema said that the federal ministers claimed that PM Khan has agreed to remove Buzdar from the post.

“The ministers congratulated us and when we asked the reason for congratulations, they said that the premier has consented to a change in Punjab,” sources quoted Cheema as saying.

However, he said that the federal committee refused to give an early date for deciding Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s fate, sources said.

“We asked when, the ministers replied, ‘after the no-confidence motion in the Centre,'” Cheema told.

He criticised saying that how could PML-Q believe that the government would move towards a decision about Punjab after the failure of no-trust move in the Centre.

“Do they consider us a child,” he said as per sources.

PML-Q likely to choose sides within 48 hours

Moreover, PML-Q, one of the key allies of ruling-PTI, is expected to reach a decision regarding the no-confidence motion submitted against PM Imran Khan in the next 48 hours, Cheema said Friday.

The decision, which will come after the longest period of consultations by a party on the political situation, would finally reveal on which side the PTI’s ally is because the uncertainty about whether the government’s coalition parties would support it continues.

He said that the pressure regarding the decision is increasing on his party.

Cheema revealed that the Opposition has offered PML-Q the seat of Punjab chief minister but what the government offers them is a mere “lollipop.”

“PM Imran Khan should take matters seriously but he has deployed U-16 team in the field,” Cheema said.