Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said that he would be more than happy to step down from his position for Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.
Chaudhry's statement came in response to a video of Sheikh Rasheed on television channels and social media in which the railways minister could be heard commenting that he had been offered by Prime Minister Imran Khan to take over the information ministry.
"I had four meeting with the prime minister yesterday. He told me that you should take over the information ministry," Rasheed could be heard saying as he spoke to officials prior to a press conference in Lahore. Rasheed could be heard saying the information minister was "on a picnic in London and he has been asked to return."
But Chaudhry responded by saying he'd would not object to stepping down for Sheikh Rasheed.
"I will be more than happy to vacate my position for Sheikh Rasheed sb and serve as MNA," Chaudhry said in a tweet.
I will be more than happy to vacate my position for Sheikh Rasheed sb and serve as MNA, we all use trust powers bestowed by people of Pakistan and PM decides who is best fit in the role, However, till I am minister ll not bow to blackmailing of Advertisement lobby
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) December 8, 2018
"We all use trust powers bestowed by people of Pakistan and PM decides who is best fit in the role, However, till I am minister ll not bow to blackmailing of Advertisement lobby," the information minister added.
'No truth in news regarding change in info ministry'
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Media Iftikhar Durrani also rejected the claims made by Rasheed in the video clip.
"There is no truth to the news reports regarding any change in the information ministry," Durrani said in a statement.
"The prime minister is content with performance of both [information and railways] ministries," he said.
