Former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday urged his workers and supporters to defeat the "turncoats" as well as the "nexus" of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the PML-N by voting for his party in the upcoming by-polls in Lodhran.
The PTI chairman made these while addressing a PTI power show in Lodhran.
Towards the start of the speech, Imran rued the situation in Karachi, where at least five people have been killed due to relentless rainfall that has submerged several areas of the city and left many without power.
He accused the Sindh government of being unprepared to deal with the monsoon rains, unlike the PTI's former government in Punjab under Usman Buzdar.
Imran said the Buzdar administration had installed underground water tanks to store rain water and prevent it from causing urban flash floods.
He said same could not be done in Sindh due to "corrupt" elements such as PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari being in charge. "Sindh can't progress until he (Zardari) is there," Imran said.
The PTI chairman said that during his government there were corruption cases ready against Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. He said the duo were prevented from getting the punishment they deserved by "those who had [the real] power".
He branded PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal the "lying Aristotle" and targeted his speech where he had suggested that "corruption doesn't impede economic development, but instability and policy reversals do."
He talked about the recent incident where Iqbal was heckled at a restaurant and slogans of "chor (thief)" were chanted against him. Imran said Iqbal's hecklers were not misbehaving but merely "telling the truth".
Imran slammed the incumbent government's narrative on inflation from the time when it was in the opposition and his party was in power. He made a comparison of food and energy prices during his government and now, claiming that it was proof that the narrative built against him was hollow.
He said the actual reason the PML-N and its allies wanted to cease power was to "amend accountability laws, give themselves an NRO and shut their corruption cases".
Addressing the farmer community of Lodhran, Imran said that his government had taken measures for their benefit and ensured that they received their due profits rather than mill owners and sugar barons.
He accused the ECP of being in cahoots with the PML-N and also named a certain Mr X of managing the elections for the party in Lahore. He urged his followers to defeat the collusion by coming out to vote for the PTI on July 17.
