CM will join BAP on May 11, claims party leader

PML-N Senator Nassebullah Bazai defects to BAP along with his 35 supporters

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo will join the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) on May 11, claims central BAP leader Saeed Ahmed Hashmi while addressing a news conference at the Quetta Press Club on Wednesday.

On the occasion, Senator Naseebullah Bazai, the former provincial secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), joined BAP along with his 35 supporters. Senator Bazai was elected senator on a PML-N ticket, but with the support of dissident ruling party MPAs.

“We have called a session of our party’s council on May 11,” said Hashmi, adding that the same day, provincial ministers and veteran politicians of the province would also announce joining the party, along with the incumbent chief minister.

Hashmi, a former senator also known as Baba Rahmatay, said the new council and leadership of BAP would be announced the same day.

He said some nationalist parties were afraid of the growing popularity of BAP in the province, “that’s why they are criticising the party”. He said his party wanted to bring development and prosperity in Balochistan.

In a lighter vein, Hashmi said, “Balochistan has found its BAP [father] and now we are looking for a widow having children… and we will succeed in finding them.”

Speaking on the occasion, Senator Bazai slammed former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri without mentioning his name. Due to him, he said, the PML-N had vanished from Balochistan.

“Despite being ignored by the central leadership of the PML-N, I served the party for 22 years. But finally I came to know that they cannot do anything for the betterment of the people of Balochistan.”

He said he joined BAP because “it has the potential to lead the province and provide relief to the people of Balochistan”. He added, “A politician always moves forward and takes decision after reviewing the political situation.”

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier this month, Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial President Ali Madad Jattak had claimed that CM Bizenjo would soon join him as “he has hidden sympathies with the party”.