ISLAMABAD, July 27: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi took oath as the 20th Chief Minister of Punjab at the Aiwan-e-Sadr early on Wednesday. The oath was administered by President Dr Arif Alvi in a simple ceremony.
President Arif Alvi administered the oath to Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman refused to do so. However, this is the second time that Pervaiz Elahi is serving in this post.
Previously, Elahi served as Punjab’s chief minister from November 29, 2002, to November 18, 2007. After the oath taking ceremony in the Aiwan-e-Sadr, PTI leader Shahbaz Gill was asked about what were the next steps for their party.
Gill responded that they are ready for general elections and that is the only acceptable way forward. Meanwhile, another PTI leader and former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar said that Elahi’s election was a victory for PTI chief Imran Khan’s movement to restore true democracy in the country.
He hoped that with Elahi taking over in Punjab as chief minister, it would offer political stability to the province. Meanwhile, after the PTI-PML-Q coalition forms government in Punjab, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has decided to nominate its MPA and Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan for the slot of speaker of the assembly to replace Pervaiz Elahi who sworn-in as the new chief minister.
The decision has been taken during the meeting between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and newly-elected Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi in a meeting at Khan’s Bani Gala residence earlier on Wednesday. Both leaders, according to sources, have agreed on Sibtain Khan’s name after consultation.
Further, the ruling coalition in Punjab has also decided to move a no-trust motion against the assembly’s Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari who had joined the camp of the PML-N-led coalition which was previously in power until a verdict of the Supreme Court resulted in ouster of Hamza Shahbaz as the CM.
PTI leaders Wasiq Qayyum and Malik Taimur are strong contenders for the deputy speaker’s slot, sources said. Elahi had secured 186 votes in the runoff elections for the Punjab chief minister’s post in the Punjab Assembly on July 22. -DNA
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