RAWALPINDI: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Friday that flattery was to blame for the failure of successive governments to deliver.

`Real loyalty to the leader is to present a real picture of the situation and avoid flattery. The time has come to end this culture.

I always spoke truth before my leadership and avoided flattering [them],` he said at a PML-N rally in Rawat.

Mr Khan was in Rawat to lay the foundation stone of a 600-bed hospital for which the Punjab government has released Rs650 million.

However, he deferred plans to lay the foundation stone due to a massive traffic jam in the area.

Addressing party workers and supporters, Mr Khan said he would explain his decision not to accept any ministry in Prime Minister Shahid Khagan Abbasi`s cabinet in the a few days.

He also pledged to visit every corner of the country in the upcoming days to support former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He said: `Although Nawaz Sharif was stripped of the [premiership], nobody can snatch the popularity he [enjoys] in Pakistan.

He said the PML-N was facing a difficult time after Mr Sharif`s disqualification, and he had come to Rawat to seek support for his leader Mr Sharif. He said politics wasdifficult in Pakistan, as there was no respect left in politics and those who believed in the politics of abuse were surfacing.

He added that the PML-N built roads, motorways and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor when it was in power, while its opponents did nothing in their eight year tenure.

`I did a lot for my constituency in the last four years,` he added.

Mr Khan said his voters and supporters had remained steadfast during crises. `I will never let down my people,` he said, adding that there is an army of people behind him that supports him.

The former interior minister said the countryisfacinginternaland externaldangers while the political parties are fighting.

In response to slogans in support of himself and Mr Sharif, Mr Khan asked participants of the rally to refrain from bellowing slogans and instead asked them to come out onto the streets to muster public support for Mr Sharif and make the PML-N stronger.

Earlier, leaders and supporters of the governing party came from across the division to attend the rally, triggering a traffic jam on the G.T. Road and in Rawat.

Chief Traffic Officer Yousaf Ali Shahid had devised a traffic plan to facilitate commuters and participants, and security arrangements were made to protect the rally on orders from City Police Of ficer Israr Abbasi.