PPP gears up for solo flight in K-P

Party finalises names of candidates in province as seat-adjustment talks falter

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) geared up on Tuesday to take a solo flight in the upcoming general elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa following collapse of the seat-adjustment talks with the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

According to the PPP sources, the party had forwarded the names of candidates for the electoral contests in the provinces to the Central Parliamentary Board for the award of tickets for the general elections scheduled for February 8.

“The PPP will enter the field alone because the seat adjustment with the JUI-F or the ANP is not happening,” a PPP sources told The Express Tribune. “The party has finalised the names of its candidates, and sent the recommendations to the central leadership for approval.”

It was learned that the names of the party candidates were finalised in a meeting of the PPP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa parliamentary board. The meeting was held with PPP Provincial President Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha in the chair.

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The board nominated Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Arbab Alamgir, Zarak Arbab from Peshawar, Anwar Saifullah Khan from Lakki Marwat, Najamuddin Khan and Sahibzada Sanaullah from Dir, Engineer Humayun Khan and Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha from Malakand and Shuja Khan from Mansehra.

The other names included Amjad Afridi from Kohat, Saleem Khan from Chitral, General Secretary of PPP Women Wing Shazia Tehmas from Charsadda, Information Secretary of Women Wing Meher Sultana from Kirk, Sajida Tabsum from Abbottabad, and Dr Ghazala from Swabi.

Meanwhile, the UI-F lashed out at PPP leadership, alleging that the PPP-Parliamentarians President Asif Zardari’s politics contained “tricks and conspiracies” and that the “Zardari and company” could never come to power without conspiracies.

In a statement, JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri alleged that the PPP didn’t even have “candidates available on rent” for contesting the elections from Punjab, adding that it had become difficult for the PPP to save itself in Sindh.

Ghauri said that the PPP should first get its chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari elected as a National Assembly member and then hope for electing him as the prime minister. “The PPP has nothing but mere allegations and criticism against others.”

(WITH INPUT FROM OUR ISLAMABAD CORRESPONDENT)