Didn't Join Politics To Know Prices Of 'Aloo Tamatar': Pak PM Imran Khan Over No Confidence Motion

Pakistan's general inflation measured by Consumer Price Index clocked in at a 24-month peak of 13 per cent in January as prices of almost all commodities and utilities maintained a growing trend.

Paakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (File Photo)

New Delhi: Amidst the spiralling inflation in Pakistan, a no-confidence motion was tabled against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan which accused him of mismanaging the economy. He attacked the Opposition by saying that he did not join politics to check the prices of 'aloo and tamatar'.

"I didn't join politics to know the prices of 'aloo and tamatar' (potatoes and tomatoes). I joined it for the sake of the country's youth", Khan, also chairman of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was reported as saying by PTI. The 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician added that 25 years ago that he already had everything in life that a person could dream of. 

"If we want to become a great nation, we will have to support the truth, and this is what I have been preaching for the last 25 years," Khan said.

Pakistan's general inflation measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) clocked in at a 24-month peak of 13 per cent in January as prices of almost all commodities and utilities maintained a growing trend.

The sectors that posted double-digit growth in prices when compared to the same month of last year included perishable and non-perishable food items, energy, transportation, clothing and health, the Dawn newspaper reported last month.

This is the highest CPI inflation since January 2020 when it was 14.6 per cent, it said.

While addressing a political rally on Sunday, in Hafizabad city in Punjab province, he said the nation would stand against elements trying to topple his government using money to buy the conscience of the [lawmakers].

He said Pakistan was going to become a great country in the remainder of his term, adding that the incentives announced by his government would yield results soon.

Khan's speech came days after the united opposition front submitted a no-confidence motion against him while pinning its hopes for the success of the motion on the estranged members of the ruling party and its allies.

In the 342-member National Assembly, the Opposition needs 272 votes to remove the prime minister.

The key leaders of the Opposition parties will meet on Monday at the residence of the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif to hold a consultative huddle to chalk out an effective strategy to make its no-confidence motion successful.

Prime Minister Khan came to power in 2018 and the next general election is scheduled to be held in 2023.