Fresh PTI deserters reach out to Tareen for new party

Fawad Chaudhry, Shaukat Tarin ‘contact’ senior politician for his new party

LAHORE:

PTI leaders, who have recently left the party, have reached out to its estranged stalwart Jahangir Tareen, a senior politician as well as a sugar baron with plenty of influence.

According to reports, Tareen has decided to form a new political party and sources said two ex-PTI top leaders, Fawad Chaudhry and Shaukat Tarin, had contacted him to exchange views on joining it.

The sources added that the two leaders, who had recently left the PTI, also discussed the future strategy with Tareen.

The senior politician also consulted the former PTI leaders over the name of his new party.

The sources further said in the coming two or three days, the PTI leaders, who had recently parted ways with the party, would announce their allegiance with Tareen.

They added that apart from the top PTI leaders who had left the party, many political families from Muzzafargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lodhran, Multan, and Rajanpur were expected to join Tareen’s new party.

However, Fawad refuted these reports, saying that he had already announced that he was taking a ‘break’ from politics.

He added that he had no current plans to remain in politics.

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In December 2017, the Supreme Court had disqualified Tareen from holding a public office for concealing his 12-acre Hyde House property in the UK in his nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The PTI secretary general was disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution for deliberately giving a false statement before the top court to conceal the ownership of the property worth £5 million abroad.

However, Tareen remained part of the PTI despite his disqualification.

He played a significant role in convincing independent lawmakers to join the PTI after the 2018 elections.

Tareen’s efforts were crucial in helping PTI Chairman Imran Khan become the prime minister that year.

However, Imran’s ties with Tareen turned sour after the former came to power.

In May 2022, Imran said the reason behind his differences with Tareen as well as another estranged leader of the party, Aleem Khan, was that both of them were seeking “illegal” benefits from him.

He maintained that Tareen stood with those who were the “biggest bandits” in the country.

He added that when he ordered an investigation into the sugar scandal, he developed differences with Tareen.

The sources said as Tareen was disqualified for life, he would be the patron-in-chief of the new party.

Tareen owns thousands of acres of farmland, many sugar mills and a private jet that mostly remained under the use of Imran before their relationship turned sour.