Punjab Assembly (PA) Opposition Leader Muhammad Moeen ud Din Riaz Qureshi on Friday slammed the provincial budget of Rs5.9 trillion, accusing the government of prioritising political branding over public welfare.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader lamented that the government allocated massive funds to new schemes and left previous projects incomplete.

He said the authorities had failed to deliver tangible relief despite spending “billions of rupees” on development.

On the first day of general debate on the budget in the PA, the opposition leader questioned the government’s development priorities, alleging that public money was being spent on publicity instead of resolving basic issues faced by citizens.

“There is no visible public welfare project in the budget. It only reflects the promotion of one political family,” Qureshi said, adding that despite huge allocations, people were still struggling with inflation, unemployment, poor education, deteriorating healthcare, and law and order.

“The incomplete development projects have become a burden on the public.”

Referring to budget allocations, he demanded to know why new schemes had been allocated funds when the past schemes allotted funds in the 2025-26 fiscal year remained unfinished.

The opposition leader alleged that several mega projects received allocations last year but witnessed little to no utilisation of funds.

Qureshi claimed that Rs300 billion were earmarked for rural mega development projects, but “not a single rupee” had been spent.

Questioning the expenditure on the Data Darbar development project, he said that only a fraction of the allocated funds were utilised, and raised similar concerns over spending on the Nawaz Sharif Medical District, the Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer, Maryam Nawaz Sports Complex and Maryam Nawaz Health Clinics.

The PTI leader also criticised the naming of public projects after political personalities, saying state-funded schemes should not be used for political branding.

He urged the government to depoliticise development projects and focus on completing ongoing schemes before launching new ones.

Speaking on the floor of the house, Qureshi proposed establishing an online parliamentary budget monitoring system to allow lawmakers to track allocations, expenditures and the implementation status of development projects “in real time”.

The opposition leader also underscored that inflation had made life unbearable, and people were struggling to afford two meals a day. He claimed industries were shutting down and labourers were losing jobs.

The PTI-backed politician blamed the government’s economic policies for worsening conditions and alleged widespread corruption and mismanagement.

Addressing the members of the provincial assembly, Qureshi criticised the outsourcing of public schools, maintaining that it had damaged the education sector. He demanded the rationale behind affording expensive education department offices while outsourcing schools.

Furthermore, he accused the government of neglecting agriculture.

“Wheat was imported despite the availability of domestic stocks, which harmed the interests of the farmers,” he lamented.

He also claimed that cotton-growing regions were being converted into “sugar mill zones”.

Outlining further governance issues, the opposition leader said flood management remained inadequate, sanitation infrastructure worsened and rural development projects had failed to materialise in spite of hefty allocations.

Turning to politics, Qureshi reiterated PTI’s stance on the February 8 general elections, alleging that the public mandate had been manipulated.

“PTI-backed candidates had won despite contesting without the party’s election symbol”, he said, while accusing the government of politically victimising PTI leaders.

He defended incarcerated PTI Founder Imran Khan as well as other party members, including Dr Yasmin Rashid, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, claiming that the cases against them were “politically motivated”.

Qureshi threatened that the PTI lawmakers would resign from the assemblies if anything adverse happened to the party’s founder, Imran. During the speech, PTI lawmakers also chanted slogans in support of the PTI founder.

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Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman objected to the speech of the opposition leader.

“You have not spoken about the budget. We are not here to listen to these political speeches,” the minister said before announcing a government boycott of the sitting.

The opposition leader responded by claiming that the government had escaped due to criticism.

“They lack the patience to hear the opposition.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar spoke against the boycott and called it “inconsistent with democratic traditions”.

He sent Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader Ali Haider Gilani and other lawmakers to persuade treasury members to return to the house.

Following negotiations, treasury lawmakers rejoined the assembly and the budget debate resumed.