PPP rubbishes rumours of Zardari-Bilawal rift

KARACHI: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday rubbished rumours of rift between party’s top leadership, Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto after the latter left for Dubai, ARY News reported.

The development comes a day after former President Asif Ali Zardari – in an interview to private news channel – said his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was “not fully trained” in politics and would “take time” getting up to speed.

In a statement, the PPP noted that party leaders usually don’t agree with each other on many issues, clarifying that disagreement does not mean there are differences.

Meanwhile, PPP Central Secretary Information Faisal Karim Kundi said the party chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s visit to Dubai was pre-planned.

“Rumours regarding differences between Chairman PPP & President Asif Ali Zardari are baseless,” he added.

Read More: Bilawal Bhutto leaves for Dubai

Ahead of the upcoming general elections in February 2024, there was an apparent disagreement on the narrative of PPP’s top leadership – Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto.

The former foreign minister has repeatedly called out a ‘possible interference in the general elections’, while Zardari believes transparency in polls.

Zardari’s interview

During an interview, Asif Zardari was asked about Bilawal, who in recent days has repeatedly called on the nation to let older politicians “stay at home” and to give someone new a chance in the general elections.

“And then Bilawal is also not fully trained. [We] are training him,” he said.

“He’ll take time,” the PPP leader said. At the same time, Zardari said Bilawal was more talented, educated and better spoken than him but “experience is experience”.

Asif Zardari asserted that the government of former prime minister Imran Khan wanted “minus Zardari People Party” and send me out of the country.

Zardari contended that initiating a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan was the correct decision otherwise he would have stayed in power until 2028 through an RO election.