‘Stop politics of allegations, else you will go into oblivion’, Nawaz jibes at political rivals

SHEIKHUPURA: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that those who are hurling allegations against him are responsible for the issues country is facing.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of Bhikki power plant in Sheikhupura, he said that the newcomers in politics have a penchant for sit-ins.  

“The newcomers in politics can only lie, do sit-ins, level baseless allegations and make tall claims. Fear Allah, stop politics of allegations, else you too will go into oblivion and in the end, only Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will be to the fore,” Nawaz Sharif said.

He said despite their efforts they had failed to win the hearts of the people and mentioned the defeat of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate in a by-election yesterday.

“We earlier won by 8,000 votes in 2013 general election, but yesterday we got a lead of over 22,000 votes, despite the fact that all other political forces backed the PTI candidate,” he said.

The Prime Minister was also critical of the previous Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in its failure to address the serious issue of power outages and said those, who were responsible for the current load shedding, were today threatening to lodge a protest.

“You must be ashamed of yourself. Had you considered Pakistan your own country and served the nation with honesty and dedication, we would not have faced such a bad situation,” the Prime Minister said.

He said Balochistan was abandoned by the previous governments and now several development projects were near fruition there. He regretted that the previous governments never bothered to undertake any development project in the province.

He said the federal government was pleased to undertake several development projects in Karachi and Sindh, despite the fact that it was the provincial responsibility.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that completion of Bhikki power project in a record period of eighteen months is beginning of new era in national history.

According to reports, the power plant would immediately add 717MG in the national grid.

“In just 18-months even a house is not constructed, we ensured competition of a massive power plant. It is not our precedent to spend 10 years on a project which is scheduled to be completed in one year time,” he said.

“Rs 77 billion were spent on this project,” PM Nawaz claimed. "This plant will generate electricity at the rate of seven rupees thirty-seven paise per unit, which is the cheapest project to generate electricity through gas."

He said Balloki Power Project will be completed at a total cost of eighty-four billion rupees with a saving of 52 billion rupees, further informing that Haveli Bahadur Shah project will be completed at a cost of Rs90 billion with a saving of Rs49 billion.

The premier stated that every year the demand for electricity increased by seven percent.  

He announced that around 10,000MW would be added in the system.

Speaking on the occasion, CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif said that the inauguration of the power plant is a step towards the economic progress of the country.

In reference to the Panama Leaks case, he said that:" a respectable judge of the Supreme Cort has said that the decision will be remembered for the next 20 years. I want to say that the prime minister has established  power plants all over the country, that his services will be remembered by the nation for at least next forty years."

He claimed that the load shedding will completely end in the beginning of 2018, further adding that without the power plant, the power crisis would have been severe in the country.

The chief minister said that the cost of Bhikki power plant is the replica of Guddu power plant but it was constructed on half of its cost in record 18 months.

He also said that no one dared to take a single penny of corruption on those power projects and Rs 112 billion of the national exchequer were saved.   

He claimed that at least Rs20 billion were wasted by the previous government in the Nandipur power plant. “Those who have looted and wasted national resources are hurling allegations against us,” he said.

On the occasion, the chief minister requested the premier to take strict action against the officials who are responsible for the continuation of load shedding in the country as they have not implemented his vision.

Governor Punjab Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif were also present on the occasion.