Intra-party tussle: Kalat PPP suspends CM’s membership

PPP’s deputy parliamentary leader in Balochistan Assembly Ali Madad Jattak criticises Zehri’s decision.

QUETTA:

Already under the scanner following a Supreme Court order, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) membership was suspended for three months on Thursday for allegedly ‘violating party policies’.

The decision was taken by PPP’s Kalat division, which said it had the blessings of the party’s provincial chief, Sadiq Umrani.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PPP Kalat division president Rafeeq Sajjad Zehri said the chief minister had been violating party polices for the last four and a half years. “The chief minister was not addressing issues faced by the party workers who voted him to power…  He was not spending enough time in Quetta as well,” maintained Zehri, adding that Raisani’s policies had weakened the PPP’s position in the province.

“Raisani had been twice served notices over violating party policies… After consulting PPP Balochistan president Sadiq Umrani, we suspended his party membership for three months and asked him to submit an explanation,” he informed.

On the other hand, PPP’s deputy parliamentary leader in the Balochistan Assembly Ali Madad Jattak criticised Zehri’s decision, saying the Kalat division president did not have the authority to suspend Raisani’s membership.

“The party will take action against Rafeeq Zehri for violating party discipline by depicting a controversial image of the Balochistan chief minister,” he asserted.

A source inside the party claimed Umrani developed differences with the chief minister ever since he was sacked from his position as Minister for Communication and Works. Presumably, Umrani and PPP’s Kalat wing are not enjoying the support of the party’s central leadership and have, as such, resorted to waging a media war against Raisani, the source added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2012.