Intra-party polls: Ejaz Chaudhry pledges support for Sarwar

Majority decision to support Sarwar reached at meeting

LAHORE: Former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry on Friday pledged support for former Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar who has been vying for the slot of the party’s provincial president.

The announcement came late on Friday evening following a meeting of around 200 PTI members in Lahore. Chaired by Chaudhry, the meeting had been convened to deliberate over extending support to one of the two provincial presidential candidates.

A majority decision to support Sarwar was reached during the meeting.

Following the meeting’s conclusion, Chaudhry said the announcement had been made after a majority of friends voted in favour of supporting Sarwar. Sarwar has been in contest with MNA Shafqat Mahmood for the top slot. He said his camp aimed at offering their cooperation to all other friends across every level of the intra-party elections. “I do not believe in groupings within the party nor am I part of any group,” the former PTI Punjab president said. Chaudhry also lashed out at attempts to divide the party saying that holding intra-party elections was part of a democratic process. He said there were no differences in the party and all those competing were friends and peers with the same ideology. “Differentiating people in the party by labelling some ideological and others non-ideological is against the party’s message,” Chaudhry said.

Those present also deliberated over Chaudhry’s decision to participate in the intra-party elections at the centre. While no decision was reached as to what post he would be contesting for, the meeting concluded by supporting his decision to contest at the centre. Previously, Chaudhry had announced his intention to vie for the slot of the party’s provincial president, only to rescind it later.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2016.