• Gandapur says that any delay could have led to the “governor’s rule”
• Salman Akram Raja ‘Ciego’; Saif states that Imran is fine the adiala budget
Peshawar: The midnight approval of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s budget has exhibited deep divisions within the ruler Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI), with Prime Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, stating that any delay could have raided the way for the imposition of the governor’s abundance in the province.
The KP Assembly approved the budget around midnight on Monday, dragging the cutting motions to the demands for subsidies, which led to opposition legislators to boycott the procedures.
On Tuesday, PTI’s secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, expressed his surprise for movement. “The approval of the KP budget yesterday has been a complete surprise for me. On June 22, the PTI political committee supported the decision of the KP’s parliamentary party to approve the budget, if no meeting is allowed with (Imran) Khan SB, on the last possible date to avoid financial chaos,” he wrote in X.
Raja said a meeting with Mr. Khan was scheduled on Monday. “The result of this meeting and more possible meetings before 30 should have been expected before the approval of the KP budget,” he said.
The former KP finance minister, Taimur Salem Jhagra, said in an X position that the party needed to put his home in order, adding that the mishandling of the issue had harmed both the party and Imran Khan.
“The meeting of the political committee was convened at the last minute, and in Iran. Many of us could not attend it, including me, and we were even surprised that the budget was presented for discussion. Many people I heard later told me they were open for the discussion,” he said.
Jhagra said that the budget was presented until June 18 and that KP was the only government so far that it approved its budget, while Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan and federal governments had not yet done so.
“The budget approval could have been easily extended until 26 and 27, and the space made to obtain instructions from Imran Khan today,” he said, added that the budget should be approved before June 30 to prevent the federal government from having an excuse to impose an emergency.
‘Less one campaign’
On the other hand, KP’s prime minister, Gandapur, in a video message posted on social networks, accused unidentified people of conspiring to weaken Imran Khan and his agenda.
He said there was a conspiracy to impose the governor’s rule in the province in case the budget does not pass. He claimed that some party members also became part of this plan and conducted a “except one” campaign. “Those people support another person’s agenda,” Gandapur said.
He said the provincial government had the authority to incorporate the direction of the founder of the party into the budget. However, he said that the budget must be approved according to a schedule.
He said that Imran Khan had made clear on Monday that he agreed with the provincial government’s decision to approve the budget.
KP’s government spokesman Barrimer Muhammad Ali Saif, who met the party imprisoned in the Adiala prison on Monday, said in a statement that they discussed the provincial budget and other issues in detail.
Barríster Saif said that he informed Imran Khan about the legal and constitutional problems related to the budget. He affirmed that not passing the budget in time would have resulted in a serious legal and constitutional crisis, which led to the lack of payment of wages and other government expenses.
He said that Imran Khan had consented to the approval of the budget and that after more discussions with the main minister and the finance advisor, amendments could still be made. However, he claimed that these officials were not allowed to meet Mr. Khan.
In a mockery addressed to Barríster Saif, Mr. Jhagra published on social networks: “In a lighter note, everyone should go to Adiala with a Barríster Saif mask. Maybe that will help.”
A kp cabinet member said Sunrise That although the budget had to be approved on Monday according to the official schedule, the agenda of the Secretariat of the Assembly indicated that the vote of the demands for subsidies and consideration of the finance invoices amendments was scheduled for Tuesday.
Posted in Dawn, June 25, 2025
