K-P CM threatens to expel Kundi from Governor House

After a brief hiatus, the tug of war between Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister and governor reignited on Wednesday as Ali Amin Khan Gandapur fired a blistering broadside at Faisal Karim Kundi, who belongs to the PPP, a key member of the governing coalition.

“The federal government is so incompetent that it cannot even prepare the budget,” Gandapur said while speaking to media persons on the occasion of the inauguration of a feeder route of the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Peshawar. He rebuked Kundi, calling him a thief, who “cannot be my relative”. “Tomorrow I will expel him from the Governor’s House,” Gandapur told reporters. “The governor is a thief and his leader is also a thief. Tell the nation on what basis Bilawal got admission to Oxford [University],” he added.

Gandapur said that the federal government was looking for excuses to become a “political martyr” but “we will not let them become political martyrs”.

Responding to a question, he said that it was ignoble of the federal government to exclude K-P’s development projects from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). “This fake government imposed upon the country is continuously doing injustice to us,” he charged.

“But let me make it clear to them that the people and government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa know how to wrest their rights. Development projects are a right of our people. These should be reinstated immediately. If not, get ready for Duma Dum Mast Qalandar (a term for forceful protests).”

Gandapur, who heads the PTI government in K-P, believes that it is not a difficult task for them “to send this illegitimate [federal] government home,” stressing that the party has the mandate and support of the 240 million people of Pakistan.