Summary We reject stats given by Imran Khan, PTI's intra-party elections caused its defeat, says minister
ISLAMABAD: (Dunya News) – Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that the allegations leveled by Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan were baseless. He said that the government rejected the stats provided by Imran Khan during his press conference. Rejecting PTI’s allegations of rigging in General Election 2013, Saad Rafique said that Imran’s allegations carried no weight.
Holding a press conference in Islamabad today (Friday) in response to the press conference conducted by PTI, Saad Rafique said that the PTI intra-party elections were the main cause of the party’s defeat in the elections as rigging in those elections was widespread and the news regarding the rifts created by this intra-party election within PTI’s ranks came to the fore through national media.
“Is it our mistake if Imran Khan doesn’t understand politics? Is it our mistake that the party tickets were awarded in PTI without proper ground work? Is it our mistake that the PTI tickets were awarded by Imran Khan while sitting at his residence in Bani Gala?” questioned Saad Rafique. “People will not vote for the people who would ask for votes sitting in their helicopters”, he added.
Saad rafique questioned why PTI did not exercise the right of challenging the vote on the election day. “Our supporters ask why we don’t respond to Imran’s allegations”, he said. He said that Imran Khan was the brainchild of former establishment and acted on their commands only.
Railways Minister said that Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leadership was kept out of the election in 2002 and 2008 but still it prevailed and got a landslide victory in 2013. “Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif performed in Punjab during his 2008-13 tenure. What has Imran Khan done in politics”, he said.
“The only problem with Imran Khan is that he had seen a dream in his childhood that he’d one day become prime minister. We don’t arrest him because he cannot even live for eight days in prison because without ‘supply’ he cannot survive long enough”, he said.
Saad said that PTI did nothing in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) for the welfare of the people. KP has become a reservoir of the epidemics like Polio and Dengue, he said. “Imran should at least care for the 7.6 million people who, by luck, have voted for him”, he advised.
Responding to a question, Saad Rafique said that Imran Khan spends 150 million rupees for a public meeting and then laments baseless accusations upon the government. He said that it was every party’s right to answer the allegations being leveled against it. “It is also important to unveil Imran Khan’s real face before the public”, he said.
