PESHAWAR: A political standoff over the approval of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) budget has triggered hectic consultations at the Chief Minister’s House and Governor House, as both the ruling party and the opposition weigh their options amid rising uncertainty.
The provincial government, led by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, has called an urgent meeting of the ruling party’s parliamentary group on Sunday evening to discuss whether or not to proceed with the budget approval without a green signal from PTI founder Imran Khan.
Well-placed sources told HUM News English that the meeting will include senior PTI leaders and MNAs, who have been invited to deliberate on Imran Khan’s demand that the budget be finalised only after a consultation with him.
Imran Khan, currently incarcerated, has conditioned his approval of the KP budget on a meeting with specific party leaders, including CM Gandapur, finance adviser Muzammil Aslam, former provincial finance minister Taimur Jhagra, and opposition leaders in both houses of parliament Omar Ayub, and Shibli Faraz.
He had conveyed this message through his sister Noreen Niazi who met him at Adiala Jail on June 17.
On the other hand, opposition members of the KP Assembly, led by opposition leader Dr Ibadullah Khan, met with Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday to discuss the budget impasse. A second round of consultations took place on Saturday, with the opposition discussing constitutional options with legal experts.
According to sources, the KP government appears increasingly uneasy about the consequences of failing to pass the budget before the constitutional deadline of June 30.
On the other hand, opposition sources confirmed that if the KP budget is not passed by June 30, they will approach the federal government. A resolution may then be moved in the National Assembly to authorise a two-month interim budget for KP.
The deadlock comes amid an increasingly complex political environment in the province, where the PTI government’s internal divisions and Imran Khan’s directives have added a new layer of uncertainty to the budgetary process.