Bilawal Bhutto says ‘selected raj’ will not be accepted anymore

MARDAN: As General Elections 2024 draws near, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that people of Pakistan will not accept “selected Raj” (selected government) anymore, ARY News reported on Friday.

Addressing a workers’ convention in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan, the former foreign minister said that people of Pakistan had borne selected Raj for five years – in apparent reference to PTI government.

“The masses will no longer accept the selected raj,” Bilawal Bhutto said, emphasising that the people will suffer if someone is selected again this time.

He also took a dig at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying that Politicians who joined the “Mehangai league [inflation party] will not remain electable anymore due to their decision”.

The PPP chairman made these remarks while apparently referring to Nawaz Sharif’s Quetta visit, wherein more than 30 politicians of Balochistan joined PML-N.

Bilawal Bhutto termed traditional or old politics as the country’s ‘worst enemy’, stressing the need to embark on “new politics”.

“We need to embark on a new political direction, which will allow us to overcome the issues faced by the country,” the former minister said.

He regretted that Veteran politicians neither think about the present nor the future “and are still stuck in the past”. “We want to leave behind the politics of division, hate and abuse which are part of traditional politics for the past 70 years,” he stressed.

“Today the country suffers from historical inflation, poverty and unemployment levels due to prevalent economic turmoil,” he said, noting that his party’s ‘real competition’ is inflation, unemployment and poverty.

“Our slogan and manifesto will succeed on February 8 and the next prime minister and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be ours as well,” he added.