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The PPP claimed on Monday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured its top leadership of resolving their concerns about canal projects in a meeting amid a period of tense relations between the two ruling coalition allies.<\/p>\n
The differences between the PML-N, which heads the coalition, and the PPP have been simmering<\/a> for months as the key ally has expressed frustration over unfulfilled promises<\/a>. A meeting in December<\/a> between the top leaders from both sides, PM Shehbaz and President Asif Ali Zardari, seemingly failed to put an end to the disagreements. Even after that meeting, PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwalla claimed<\/a> that directives issued by the Presidency were not being heeded by the PM\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n The PPP has also repeatedly voiced concern over the construction of controversial canals in Punjab\u2019s Cholistan area. It has called for the immediate meeting of the Council of Common Interests, which has been pen\u00adding for 11 months, and called for the canal issue to be raised there. The Sindh government claims the new canals would reduce the province\u2019s share of water and may turn the cultivable land barren. President Zardari too hit out<\/a> against the government in today\u2019s address to a joint session of parliament, criticising it for its \u201cunilateral\u201d decision making and calling on it to abandon the canal project, saying he could not support it.<\/p>\n Amid that environment, a press release<\/a> from the coalition ally said that PM Shehbaz hosted a PPP delegation of senior leadership led by Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for an Iftar dinner at the Prime Minister House today.<\/p>\n