Shah Mehmood lashes out at govt for presenting budget for one year

ISLAMABAD: Vice Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday lashed out at the outgoing government for presenting budget 2018 for one year and also said, unprecedentedly, a non-elected person was going to present national budget, ARY News reported

“How remorseful it is that an elected member of the house has been ruled out and budget is being presented by a non-elected member of the government, which has no precedent in the history of Pakistan,” he said in a pre-budget 2018 speech in the National Assembly.

Hours before the Federal Budget 2018-19, Adviser to Prime Minister Miftah Ismail was appointed as the new federal minister for finance, revenue and economic affairs in absence of former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who has been declared a proclaimed offender over failure to stand trial for corruption charges.

Read More: Govt has no right to present year-long budget: Khursheed Shah

Ismail will present the budget in presence of Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs Rana Afzal Khan MNA.

Qureshi said this would set a new example.

Chastising the government, the PTI leader said there was no ethical grounds for presenting the budget just one month before the General Elections 2018.

Citing Leader of Opposition in the NA Khursheed Shah’s argument, he said there was no legal rationale behind this budget.

He suggested the government to present a budget for four months as the outgoing government had no right to present budget 2018 for an entire year.

“I can establish through the constitution that presenting budget for four months is legitimate,” he said.

Earlier, speaking on the floor of the assembly, Khursheed Shah said: “The incumbent government’s tenure is going to end on Mary 31 and there are no two opinions in this regard. The government should have presented a budget 2018 for one quarter for the interim period until the next government comes into power after the general elections.”