PM Imran enjoys support of 184 lawmakers in NA, says Fawad

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Imran Khan enjoys the support of at least 184 lawmakers in the National Assembly, suggesting that the opposition’s no-confidence motion against the premier was set to fail.

"I challenge the opposition to bring the motion to House if they have 172 numbers," the minister said while addressing a press conference alongside Energy Minister Hammad Azhar in Islamabad.

He called on the Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser to convene the parliament session at the earliest to "wrap up" the opposition's no-confidence motion.

“I appeal to the Speaker National Assembly to call the assembly session within the next few days as the country cannot afford the uncertainty for long,” he added.

Opposition submits no-confidence motion against PM Imran

At the start of his presser, Fawad said that the two "champions" of the 1989 horse-trading exercise, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, have joined hands to topple the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, adding that their movement will fizzle out as their opponent is PM Imran.

He said that the opposition parties had taken the country’s politics back to 1989 when the money was spent blindly on horse trading.

“At least three of our MNAs, including two women have informed the premier that they have been offered up to Rs150 million to vote in favour of the planned no-confidence motion."

The minister said that their [PPP and PML-N’s] model is to invest blindly in horse-trading to get back into power, earn more money by corruption and then launder this black money abroad.

Opposition's no-confidence motion is its 'political death', says PM in fiery speech

"Government is fully ready to block the opposition's motion," Fawad said confidently.

‘PM will emerge even stronger in two weeks’

Speaking at the occasion, Azhar said the opposition was not able to tolerate the economic feats of the PTI government.

“Despite all the crisis, Pakistan is progressing and we are being seen as a model for development,” he said, adding that the country’s current growth rate stood at 5.5 percent despite "all the challenges at hand."

The energy minister said that the political turmoil caused by the opposition was damaging the economy, and shaking the confidence of investors who are quite optimistic about Pakistan's future.

He maintained that PM Imran would emerge even stronger in the next two weeks, insisting that he “enjoys the complete support of people.”

The presser comes a day after the opposition submitted the no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan in the National Assembly Secretariat.

A total of 86 lawmakers from the opposition parties had signed the motion.

Speaker Asad Qaiser was not present in his office which is why the no-confidence motion was submitted with the secretariat.

For the motion to succeed, the joint opposition requires the support of 172 MNAs. After the filing of the motion, the NA speaker has between three to seven days to summon a session of the NA to conduct voting.