Hakeem Baloch rejoins PPP

Former PML-N MNA was a state minister in federal cabinet

KARACHI: Former state minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Abdul Hakeem Baloch has rejoined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) along with dozens of his supporters.

This was announced at a joint press conference with Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders at CM House on Tuesday.

Baloch, who won the National Assembly seat from Malir (NA-258) in the 2013 general elections, has tendered his resignation to the National Assembly speaker.

Baloch, who was the only PML-N MNA in Sindh, has also announced to contest the by-election on the same seat.

“It was my mistake to leave the PPP and join PML-N. I initially thought Nawaz Sharif was a national leader but found him to be the prime minister of Punjab only as his policies revolve around a single province, and he has totally neglected Sindh,” he claimed.

Baloch is an old PPP stalwart but left after differences with the party leadership. Following his victory in NA-258 on the PML-N ticket, Baloch was initially given the portfolio of state minister for railways and later for communication in the federal cabinet but he always expressed reservations of being a ‘powerless’ minister. A number of times he announced his resignation but the PML-N leadership managed to woo him back.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2016.