Consultation: PPP committee to select district leadership

Coordination Committee for south Punjab will recommend candidates for final selection by Bilawal Bhutto

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Coordination Committee for South Punjab has completed meetings and is now ready to submit recommendation for nominating party leadership at district level.

The Coordination Committee for South Punjab comprises Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, Shaukat Basra, Toochi Khan and Nawazish Ali Pirzada. Abdul Qadir Shaheen is the secretary of the committee.

The committee has held meetings in Rahim Yar Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Multan. It met all the allied wings of the party including Peoples Students Federation (PSF), minorities’ wing, women wing, traders’ wing, lawyers’ wing, Bhutto Lovers. It will now present its recommendations to Chairman Bilawal Bhutto by the end of August.

“We are holding public gatherings and meeting people at grassroots level. As per the vision of the chairman, we ask them what are their problems and what do they want? We are interviewing people for all positions including district president, general secretary and information secretary. We will give three names to the party chairman for every seat. We will also submit our recommendations as well as provide brief profiles of the candidates. The chairman will then meet those candidates and make a final decision. This is how the new PPP leadership for south Punjab will be elected,” Shaukat Basra said.

“We are going to cities and villages and holding large open meetings. Former and present ticket holders, office bearers, allied wings and all those associations that have been associated with the PPP are being invited to these meetings. We are not just working on the reorganisation of the PPP, but also working for the 2018 general election. We are including youth. Former college and university students are being brought to the party’s youth wing from the PSF. From the youth wing, members are being brought into the party’s mainstream. Though universities and colleges are closed due to the summer vacations, a large number of students have showed up at PPP meetings. The candidates for various offices are being asked to describe changes they will introduce if they are elected. They are being asked to explain their vision and services for the party. The committee is compiling their profiles and names of three people for each office. The list will be submitted to the chairman. This will strengthen the party and the PPP will reclaim its space in southern Punjab,” Abdul Qadri Shaheen said.

“Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is just focusing on the Panama Papers issue. The PPP is the role of real opposition. This is evident in the [Azad] Kashmir as well. We are getting a good feedback from the workers. We will play a decisive role in the next elections,” he said.

Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood said the impression that the PPP was no longer popular was wrong. “In Rahim Yar Khan, there are a total 139 union councils. We won 71 of them. This is the only district where PPP won. Where we lost to independents, we lost by a margin of just 60 to 70 votes,” he said. “If the party is strengthened at union council level, it will surely deliver results and our focus is to do it now,” he said. He said the PPP would reclaim its space in the Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2016.