LAHORE: A delegation of senior lawmakers submitted the no-trust motion against Buzdar with Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti. After Prime Minister Imran Khan, the opposition has now turned its guns towards Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and submitted a no-confidence motion against him in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

The requisition notice, has been signed by PML-N leaders Rana Mashhood, Samiullah Khan, Mian Naseer, and others.

According to Mashhood, the no-confidence motion has been signed by 129 lawmakers, including 122 from the PML-N and seven from the PPP.

"As per the Constitution, the signatures of 74 members are required to requisition the provincial assembly session," he said, adding that Buzdar can't dissolve the assembly once the no-trust move is submitted.

The move comes just a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan, in what the PTI billed as a historic rally named the Amr Bil Maroof public gathering, alleged that a "foreign-funded conspiracy" was hatched against his government.

On March 8, a delegation of senior opposition lawmakers had submitted the no-trust motion against the prime minister with the National Assembly Secretariat. However, the motion has not been tabled in the lower house of parliament so far.

The NA speaker who had called the opposition-requisitioned session on March 25, three days after the expiry of the constitutionally mandatory 14-day deadline had adjourned the sitting until Monday (today). He did not allow the opposition’s no-trust resolution to be tabled after offering fateha for the deceased PTI MNA from Hangu Khayal Zaman as per the parliamentary tradition.

The move against Buzdar also comes after the government made last-ditch efforts on Saturday to convince their allies, the PML-Q and MQM-P, to support the prime minister.

“A government team led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has given his words that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will be asked to resign in a day or two, and that Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is the PTI government’s preferred choice for his replacement,”.

After some news channels quoted sources as saying that Buzdar had prepared a summary to dissolve the Punjab Assembly, a PML-Q leader claimed: “The Punjab Assembly will not be dissolved, but a change of leader of the house is on the cards.”