In 1981, Sharif was appointed finance minister of Punjab Province by the Zia government. He used his newfound political authority to promote his pro-business stance and presented four successive development-oriented budgets targeting the improvement of socio-economic conditions in rural areas. Sharif raised the appropriation of funds for the development of these rural areas to nearly 70 percent of the province's annual development program. Four years later, Sharif became the Punjab's chief minister in a general election. He now had a great deal of influence over the province's industrial and agricultural power.
When Zia was killed in a 1985 plane crash, Benazir Bhutto, daughter of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, assembled a coalition government. Sharif fiercely opposed this act. As a result, he became a leader of the newly formed Islami-Jahmoree-Itehad (IJI), a rightist coalition led by the Moslem League. He won both national and provincial assembly seats in 1988 general elections. Sharif eventually vacated the national assembly seat and returned to his role as chief minister of Punjab. A dispute with Bhutto over the distribution of government funds in Punjab vaulted him into the national spotlight.
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