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PPP partners in rage after budget fiasco

Posted on: Fri June 11, 2010

ISLAMABAD: All the coalition partners of the PPP and the Punjab government have separately complained that they were not taken on board in the preparation of the federal budget.

The allies, including the MQM, JUI and ANP have aired different grudges against the federal government.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who along with Senator Ishaq Dar met Prime Minister Gilani on Thursday, took up the issue of huge increase in the pays of the government employees without taking the Punjab on board.

However, circles close to the presidency and Prime Minister s House say that they would succeed in removing the complaints of all these allies in the next few days and the relations would return to normal shortly. They are confident that none of the allies would finally leave the coalition at this crucial juncture, creating difficulties for themselves as well as the government.

PPP leader Fauzia Wahab dismissed these charges while speaking on several media channels saying these differences are part of democracy and after discussions they will be removed.

PPP quarters say Prime Minister Gilani has himself talked to some of the top leaders of his allied parties, who assured that they would not take their relationship with the government to an extent where the passage of the federal budget in the National Assembly becomes difficult. According to them, the senior leaders of these parties are projecting their stands on various clauses of the budget for better bargaining and for the consumption of their rank and file.

The MQM is demanding scrapping of the VAT even from October and wants introduction of agriculture tax on big land holdings. MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said it was a deliberate attempt to keep the budget a secret from parliament while everyone else knew it.

The JUI says the government has not allocated sufficient funds to the ministries its nominees are presiding and has not fulfilled the conditions of the agreement under which it had joined the coalition. The ANP says it was not taken into confidence in the budget making.

The Punjab government has protested loudly over what it said was a massive increase in the salaries of government employees contrary to the understanding that the federal authorities had reached with the provinces.

 We have kept Rs25 billion in our budget to foot the bill of increase in the salaries of government servants keeping in view the agreed 25 pc raise, but now we have to arrange an additional Rs22 billion as the federal budget introduced 50 pc increase, a senior Punjab official said.

Courtesy : The News