Lahore seeing a repeat of Sindh House horse trading, says Imran

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan alleged on Wednesday that Lahore was seeing a "repeat of the Sindh House horse trading" that happened in Islamabad during the vote of no-confidence against his government in the parliament.

"Today Lahore is seeing a repeat of the Sindh House horse trading that happened in Islamabad with up to Rs 50 crores being offered to buy MPAs," he tweeted.

"The main architect behind this is Asif Zardari who gets NRO for his corruption and purchases people with looted wealth. He should be jailed," he added.

The former premier said that the alleged act was not only an "attack on democracy but also on the moral fabric of our society."

"Had the Supreme Court taken action and debarred these turncoats for life, it would have acted as a deterrent."

"Don't handlers of US regime-change conspiracy's imported govt realise severe damage being done to nation?" he asked.

In a separate statement earlier on Wednesday, former information minister and senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry expressed concerns over the alleged "ongoing horse trading to manipulate the election" for the Punjab Chief Minister slot on July 22.

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Fawad said that his party will approach the Supreme Court over the issue, adding that they had documentary evidence proving that horse trading was being done in the province.

"Democracy cannot work like this," Fawad said, warning that the development will have dire implications for the country.

The reactions comes a day after the coalition government decided to complete its constitutional tenure till August 2023 and agreed to make an attempt to save Hamza Shehbaz's government in Punjab even though it has lost its majority after the recent by-polls in the province.

PTI won 15 constituencies, dealing a major blow to the PML-N, who was only victorious in four.

After emerging as a majority seat winning party, PTI on Monday endorsed the nomination of Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi as a joint candidate of the PTI and the PML-Q for the slot of Punjab chief minister for which election will be held on July 22.