Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari is "minting money" while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is "getting cursed" by the nation for it, media reports said. "Asif Ali Zardari, you truly have come heavy on PML-N," the former Prime Minister said while taking a jibe at the PPP leader, adding: "Zardari is happy with Shehbaz's embarrassment," Samaa TV reported Khan was addressing a rally in Gujranwala on Wednesday evening as the party gears up for its 'Haqeeqi Azadi March' (real freedom march) to Islamabad against the ruling coalition government.
Khan once again maintained his "foreign conspiracy" claim behind his ouster, saying that the country's "biggest thieves were brought together" to remove an elected government. "Gujranwala, what do you think, was it conspiracy or interference," he asked the crowd. The former Prime Minister said his opponents thought "sweets" will be distributed after he was ousted, but they didn't know that people will come out in protest against the "conspiracy", Samaa TV reported. Praising his government and shedding light on the ongoing economic turmoil in the country, the PTI chairman said that there was a significant increase in exports during his tenure and in the last nine months, exports increased by 26 per cent. He added that his government reduced petrol and diesel prices to provide relief to the masses when inflation was rising globally.