PPP may not join cabinet: Zardari

• PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari says his party will not take ministries.
• Says they want their friends to be accommodated first.
• At the same time, the PPP has invited applications from candidates for NA and provincial assemblies for the next election.

ISLAMABAD: PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who is considered a key player behind the ouster of Imran Khan as prime minister, said that his party will not take ministries.

In a brief press talk at Parliament House on Saturday, Asif Zardari said that they want their friends to be accommodated first, The News reported. 

When asked if he wants to put all the burden on Shehbaz Sharif, he said that there is no such thing. “We want friends to be given a chance.”

At the same time, the PPP has also invited applications from candidates for the National Assembly and provincial assemblies for the forthcoming general election.

After Zardari’s press talk, senior leaders of the PPP started explaining his remarks and said he did not mean that the PPP was not joining the cabinet. 

A senior PPP leader, on the condition of anonymity, said that the PPP wanted to fulfil promises and agreements that it had made with coalition partners, then it would join the cabinet. Sources said the PPP, in a meeting with the PML-N, had finalised names for the cabinet.

New cabinet 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to add 12 PML-N MNAs to his federal cabinet, while PPP will get seven slots, sources told Geo News Thursday.

PM Shehbaz was sworn in as the prime minister on April 11, following the removal of Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion — making him the first premier to be removed through the democratic process.

Meanwhile, apart from the PML-N and PPP members, JUI-F is expected to get three ministries and a state minister portfolio, MQM-P, BAP, and BNP-M is expected to get two ministries each. Independent candidates are also likely to get ministries, the sources said.

MQM-P will get the governorship of Sindh, PPP Punjab, JUI-F Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and BNP-M Balochistan, the sources said.