LAHORE: Following the outburst of Senior Minister Raja Riaz against the Lahore High Court chief justice, the PML-N elders have discussed sacking him from the Punjab cabinet, Dawn has learnt.
According to sources, the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif expressed his annoyance over the ‘harsh stance’ Raja Riaz adopted against the judiciary and the PML-N in his press conferences.
“The elder Sharif asked Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to sack him (Raja Riaz) from the provincial cabinet as his behaviour was not worthy of a minister,” a source said.
Mr Sharif was, however, told that firing Mr Riaz (as minister) might create problems for the coalition, besides creating an impression the PML-N was ‘backing the LHC chief justice’, the source said.
The PML-N circles have reportedly taken exception to Mr Riaz’s statement in which he called the courts as “Sharif courts” and LHC CJ as “PML-N spokesman”.
“The PML-N leadership, however, has decided to talk to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani about Riaz’s harsh statements against the PML-N,” the source said.
PML-N Senator Pervez Rashid denied the party leadership had discussed “sacking of Riaz”. “Mian Nawaz Sharif convened no meeting in this regard,” he said.
He, however, refused to comment on the statement of LHC CJ Khawaja Muhammad Sharif in which he had reportedly asked the PPP to quit the coalition in Punjab if it had objections to provincial prosecution secretary Rana Maqbool.
Raja Riaz, when contacted by Dawn, said he would not mind if the Punjab government took any action against him. Besides, he added he was not even afraid of going to jail.
“The Punjab government cannot take action against me as far as my performance is concerned. I would like to ask the chief minister to investigate the matters of my ministry (irrigation). Some 70 per cent corruption has been eliminated since my assuming the charge and the income of the mines and minerals department of whom I have additional charge has increased 10 times,” Riaz said.
According to sources, the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif expressed his annoyance over the ‘harsh stance’ Raja Riaz adopted against the judiciary and the PML-N in his press conferences.
“The elder Sharif asked Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to sack him (Raja Riaz) from the provincial cabinet as his behaviour was not worthy of a minister,” a source said.
Mr Sharif was, however, told that firing Mr Riaz (as minister) might create problems for the coalition, besides creating an impression the PML-N was ‘backing the LHC chief justice’, the source said.
The PML-N circles have reportedly taken exception to Mr Riaz’s statement in which he called the courts as “Sharif courts” and LHC CJ as “PML-N spokesman”.
“The PML-N leadership, however, has decided to talk to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani about Riaz’s harsh statements against the PML-N,” the source said.
PML-N Senator Pervez Rashid denied the party leadership had discussed “sacking of Riaz”. “Mian Nawaz Sharif convened no meeting in this regard,” he said.
He, however, refused to comment on the statement of LHC CJ Khawaja Muhammad Sharif in which he had reportedly asked the PPP to quit the coalition in Punjab if it had objections to provincial prosecution secretary Rana Maqbool.
Raja Riaz, when contacted by Dawn, said he would not mind if the Punjab government took any action against him. Besides, he added he was not even afraid of going to jail.
“The Punjab government cannot take action against me as far as my performance is concerned. I would like to ask the chief minister to investigate the matters of my ministry (irrigation). Some 70 per cent corruption has been eliminated since my assuming the charge and the income of the mines and minerals department of whom I have additional charge has increased 10 times,” Riaz said.
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