PTI is not Imran's property; have not and will not leave party: Ayesha Gulalai

Disgruntled PTI MNA seeks time from ECP to enlist a lawyer to fight the reference against her

Disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Ayesha Gulalai has said that PTI is not chairman Imran Khan’s property and that one person alone does not make up a political party.

Speaking to reporters after a hearing at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday, Gulalai said she had explained her stance to ECP judges, adding that PTI’s lawyers had been lying that she had not responded to the party’s show-cause notice sent to her, according to Express News.

“I have not left PTI and I don’t plan on leaving it either,” she said. “PTI is my party too. One person alone does not make up a party and PTI is not Imran Khan’s property.”



She said the politics of people who take money in the name of hospitals and take foreign funding will no longer continue.

“PTI used to say that it would end corruption and not waste taxpayers’ money, but its chief minister is constructing a Rs18 million swimming pool,” she said, referring to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa CM Pervez Khattak who was in the news earlier this week when media reports emerged that the provincial government had issued a tender in newspapers to build a pool in the CM House when the Peshawar district administration has banned such constructions amid a dengue outbreak.

“Imran Khan has no concern for dengue patients, he is busy in leisurely holidays,” Gulalai added.

Earlier, the ECP heard the reference filed by PTI against Gulalai wherein she asked for more time to enlist the services of a lawyer.



During the hearing, the chief election commissioner (CEC) asked her if she had received a show-cause notice from the party and she replied that she did and had also responded to it.

The CEC informed her that the commission had to complete the reference hearing within its stipulated time - within 90 days of receiving it. The ECP chief then asked her submit a written response by the next hearing which was set for September 18.

The PTI had filed a reference against the MNA with National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to de-seat her for violating party discipline and the speaker sent the reference to the ECP on September 1.

In a news conference in August, Gulalai had accused Imran and other PTI leaders of harassing the party’s women members and sending lewd text messages.