'Efforts underway' to hold single session of Punjab Assembly today

LAHORE: In a bid to avert a constitutional crisis over two parallel sessions of the Punjab Assembly, back door contacts have been established between treasury and opposition to hold a single session of the provincial assembly, ARY NEWS reported.

Governor Punjab Baligh ur Rehman has summoned the 41st session of the Punjab Assembly at 2:00 pm at Aiwan-e-Iqbal while Speaker Parvez Elahi has adjourned the proceedings of the 40^th session for today at 1:00 pm.

According to sources, backdoor contacts have been established to hold a single session of the assembly. “Parallel sessions will hurt the legal position of both the treasury and the opposition,” they said and added that therefore efforts are underway to hold the session in one place.

Yesterday, the first session of the Punjab Assembly after the election of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz was once again postponed as deadlock persisted between the provincial government and the opposition.

Earlier in the day, a number of PML-N leaders and provincial ministers have recommended postponing the budget session until the next month after the government and opposition’s negotiations hit a deadlock.

According to details, PML-N leaders and provincial ministers have suggested postponing the Punjab Assembly’s budget session until the by-elections on the 20 vacated seats of PTI MPAs.

The Chief Minister (CM) Punjab has also decided to not allow appearance of the Inspector General Police (IG) and Chief Secretary Punjab in the assembly over the entrance of police in the assembly during the chief minister Punjab’s election.

A day earlier, the assembly session was postponed without the presentation of the budget for the fiscal year 2022-23.