PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘biggest’ relief package that he announced yesterday in a televised address to the nation, terming it a pack of lies, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Imran Khan announced Pakistan’s biggest-ever subsidy package worth Rs120 billion on Thursday providing a 30 percent discount on ghee, flour and pulses to support 130 million people. As per the package, the beneficiaries would be able to avail of the discount for the next six months.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Shehbaz Sharif maintained “Did the government not say at the time of announcing the budget that it is a tax-free budget? Now, while addressing the nation, it is said that petrol will be expensive in the country soon.”

He wondered how inflation would be tackled when the prices of gas, electricity and petrol would swell. “To take seriously a government whose budget figures were unreliable is called nothing but self-deception. Relief for masses and PTI government are two opposite things,” he added.

Shehbaz said the country had been trapped under the burden of foreign debts, and the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also doubled the troubles of the nation.

“Sugar price has surpassed Rs130 per kilogram in the wholesale market. The price of sugar increased by Rs5 per kilogram in two days. The nation does not trust any of the government’s statements based on false promises,” said the PML-N leader said.

He also claimed that the remaining sugar stock could be used for another 15 days, and the prime minister was fulfilling his wish of addressing the nation on TV.

He averred PM Imran should have resigned by acknowledging his failure rather than addressing the nation after setting historic inflation records. He said that PTI was trying to conceal its incompetence, corruption and wrong decisions by declaring inflation as a global issue.

“Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif showed how government affairs are run by bringing the rate of development at 5.8 percent and inflation at 3.6 percent,” said Shehbaz and added “If you will take Rs15,000 billion debt in three years, then inflation is bound to rise.”

Meanwhile, PML-N leader Hina Pervaiz Butt on Thursday submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly against PM’s relief package.