The Minister for Planning and Development, Asad Umar, in a television interview last night on ARY said that the government has evidence of horse-trading and will use it when necessary. He further added that many of our Members of the National Assembly had been contacted by the opposition in an attempt to buy their loyalty. The ruling party had a detailed account as to who was approaching their party members and how much money the opposition was willing to spend to secure a vote, the minister said.
کراچی سے جس فلائیٹ میں پیسہ لایا گیااس کی بھی مکمل تفصیل ہمارےپاس موجود ہےاور کیسے ایم این ایزکو خریدا گیا۔عدم اعتماد کی تحریک پر بیرونی سازش کے ٹھوس شواہدموجود ہیں۔ہمارے پاس tangible ثبوت موجود ہے جو بوقت ضرورت استعمال کیا جاسکتا ہے۔
وفاقی وزیر اسد عمر #آخری_سانس_تک_عمران_خان pic.twitter.com/HwvJVoaQgk— 🇬🇧سپورٹس مین🇵🇰 (@aminshergoraya) March 21, 2022
When he was questioned about the nature of the proof, whether it was a video or audio, he refrained from making any comment; however, he added that the government had “tangible” evidence to prove its case. Asad Umar said that it was not out of the ordinary that horse-trading was taking place before a crucial vote in the National Assembly; however, he added that the only difference this time around was that the Federal government, under the directives of Imran Khan, was not participating in it. The Minister added that the federal government has a lot of authority, but the government has refrained to misuse that to attain any political advantage.
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In a major jolt to the PTI government, it was confirmed that several PTI lawmakers had joined hands with the opposition ahead of the vote of no-confidence. On the 17 of March, Raja Riaz, a member of the ruling party and of the national assembly, announced that he would be voting against the ruling party in the following vote of no-confidence. Talking to Geo News anchorperson Hamid Mir, the ruling party’s MNA said, “we enjoy the support of two dozen more MNA’s” who would come out and vote against the ruling party.
Raja Riaz, a member of the Tareen group, was joined by several other MNA’s who revealed that no money had been offered to them and they would be voting in accordance with their “conscience”. Noor Alam Khan, a dissenting MNA, expressed his disappointment at the sort of allegations being leveled against him. Noor Alam said that “When we came to Imran Khan sahab and had voted for him, were we given Rs. 200 million then? When we voted for the speaker, did we get 200 million then?”
Read More: Is PM Khan’s future in jeopardy after no-confidence motion?
Imran Khan announced on March 09 that one of the PTI MNA’s informed him that he was offered Rs. 200 million to vote against PM Khan, further adding that several other MNA’s also got the same offer. Last month, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also alleged that three PTI MNAs had been offered bribes.
PTI MNA Nusrat Wahid on 20 march claimed that she had been offered 160 million to vote against Imran Khan in the vote of no-confidence. The PTI MNA mentioned, “This amount of the money is difficult to ignore, but what will I do with this money?” However, she did not mention who contacted her.