lost the battle<\/a> for its iconic \u2018bat\u2019 electoral symbol, forcing its candidates to contest the polls as independents.<\/p>\n\u201cOnly two parties are left now,\u201d Bilawal said while addressing a rally in Balochistan\u2019s Dera Murad Jamali. \u201cYou have to decide between the PPP and the PML-N,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The former foreign minister said that the people had to use their vote to determine if they wanted the same politics to continue or \u201cnew thinking\u201d to prevail.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to decide if you want to give the country\u2019s fate in the hands of a person who served as prime minister thrice but failed do anything for the country,\u201d Bilawal said, taking aim at PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr do you want to give an opportunity to a party that takes everyone onboard as the country moves forward?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
He highlighted that the PPP practiced politics and contested elections \u201cfor the poor\u201d while the PML-N supremo was taking part in the polls so he could be saved from going to jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m only contesting the polls so that I save you, the public, and the future of Pakistan from those people,\u201d Bilawal said.<\/p>\n
Taking another swipe at Nawaz, the PPP chief said the former premier was a coward as he vowed to defeat the PML-N in their home ground of Lahore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also contesting from Lahore. I will strike them inside their house,\u201d he asserted, adding that the PML-N feared the public. \u201cThey fear what the public will do to them if they step out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bilawal said there was no \u2018bat\u2019 in the February 8 election and the contest would be between the \u2018tiger\u2019 and the \u2018arrow\u2019, the electoral symbols for the PML-N and the PPP, respectively.<\/p>\n
During his speech, Bilawal also promised to complete the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to fix the issues of Balochistan if the province voted in favour of the PPP.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give a message to Islamabad. The people in the provinces are not happy with the rulers sitting in Islamabad,\u201d he said. He asserted that the people did not approve of attempts under way to make Nawaz premier for the fourth time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public is no one\u2019s slave. The people of Balochistan have dignity and are brave. They do not bow down in front of anyone, they do not back down, and are not afraid either,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bilawal vowed to form a PPP-led government, adding that the country needed the leadership of a party that was dedicated to serving the poor as opposed to the PML-N only served the rich.<\/p>\n
He warned that the province would not see any development for the next five years if Nawaz was made premier.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first promise is that if you help in forming a PPP government, I will double your salary,\u201d Bilawal said. \u201cI will make sure that the poor throughout the country receive 300 MW of electricity for free,\u201d he said. He also promised to build free educational and health institutions in every district of the province.<\/p>\n
The PPP chairman also promised to introduce welfare schemes for farmers and the country\u2019s youth. He concluded his address by urging the people to vote for the PPP in the upcoming general elections.<\/p>\n
Later, Bilawal also addressed a rally in Sindh\u2019s Khairpur. Other party leaders, including Qaim Ali Shah, also spoke on the occasion.<\/p>\n
The PPP chief promised the people of Sindh that the leaders they elect would not forget the public after winning the elections. Bilalwal said he would personally visit Khairpur after the PPP won the election and inquire about the problems the people were facing.<\/p>\n
He pinned the responsibility for the PPP\u2019s success in the upcoming elections on the voters in Sindh.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a complaint against the caretaker government for halting our development works for so many months,\u201d Bilawal said as he decried how the flood affectees in Sindh were being deprived of their rights.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Sunday that only two political parties \u2014 his own and the PML-N \u2014 remained in the electoral arena, urging the nation to vote for the \u2018arrow\u2019 in the upcoming general election. The comments come a day after the PTI lost the battle for its iconic \u2018bat\u2019 electoral symbol, forcing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/14164103a9d4ebb.png?r=175043","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}