Following a no-trust motion submitted by the opposition against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government in the National Assembly (NA), the opposition parties in Punjab, too, submitted a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.    

The opposition submitted the motion after it became sure that it could get the support of members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) required to oust the provincial chief minister. 

The motion, which bears the signatures of several opposition MPAs, including Rana Mashhood Ahmed, Samiullah, Ramzan Bhatti, Hassan Murtaza, Malik Ahmad Saeed Khan, Hassan Murtaza, Mian Rasheed and Naseer Ahmad, was submitted to the assembly’s secretariat.  

Following submission of the motion, the opposition parties started contacting ‘estranged’ members of the ruling PTI, such as members of Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) group, besides independents so that they could send the Punjab CM home.  

There were reports that 10 ‘disgruntled’ PTI MPAs had already given a green signal to the opposition. 

The opposition would finalize the future course of action before tabling the motion against Buzdar in the provincial assembly. 

PTI has 183 MPAs followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) 165 while PML-Q has 10 members, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has seven members. 

Besides that, there are seven independents as well.   

In 2018, Usman Buzdar had become the Punjab chief minister after 186 MPAs voted for him. 

The total strength of PML-N and PPP in the Punjab Assembly stands at 172.  

PML-Q gave the decision making power to provincial assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.  

Opposition will be defeated, says Punjab govt  

The spokesperson of the Punjab government and special assistant to CM Usman Buzdar has said that the provincial government would strongly fight the opposition’s no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Buzdar.

Spokesperson Hasan Khawar said that the chief minister was in constant touch with the Punjab Assembly members and enjoyed full confidence of his MPAs.

The provincial government spokesperson claimed that their numbers were complete believing that the opposition would face a defeat.

Pinning his hopes on the PML-Q, he said that the Chaudhry brothers knew very well that the Sharif brothers had not been trustworthy in the past. He was also optimistic about the support of the Jehangir Khan Tareen group saying they were part of the PTI.

He claimed that they had so many surprises up their sleeves for the opposition.

Reporters: Ali Akbar, Ali Ramay