Days after being removed as the party chief of PML-Q, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Monday that he would make changes to the party’s constitution in order to respond to allegations against him.
“I have always supported the truth and will continue to do so in the future,” Shujaat said while talking to the reporters during a press conference. He was flanked by Tariq Bashir Cheema, the party’s secretary general, who was also removed along with Shujaat by the party’s central working committee.
The PML-Q chief said that there was an orchestrated campaign to oust him as had ‘spoken the truth’.
The PML-Q chief fell foul of the party, including his cousin Pervaiz Elahi, over the Punjab chief minister election. Shujaat sent a letter instructing party members to vote for Hamza Shehbaz, instead of PTI-backed Elahi, in the Punjab CM runoff.
In its decision, the party’s CWC said that Shujaat was removed as his health was keeping him from making ‘prudent’ decisions and that it was detrimental for the party. It added that Cheema was also being removed over his involvement in conspiracies.
During his press conference today, Shujaat castigated PTI chief Imran for talking against state institutions. He also criticised the political leadership of the country that created a situation where the army chief had to discuss economic matters, in a reference General Qamar Javed Bajwa speaking to a US deputy secretary of state for the early release of IMF loans.
On the Punjab issue, he said that recommended to Imran to appoint Moonis Elahi, Pervaiz’s son, as the chief minister. He claimed that Imran turned it down citing corruption cases against the Punjab lawmaker.
Cheema, while speaking during the presser, said that no one could remove Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as party president.
“I am being accused of hatching a conspiracy,” Cheema said, adding that he always tried to keep the party united. “I have been with the party for 20 years,” he added.
Cheema added that Shujaat still had the support of the central leadership of the party.
