Switching alliances: PPP gains more ground in K-P

K-P Assembly lawmaker Nighat Orakzai, senior leader Iftikhar Jhagra joins PPP.

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly lawmaker Nighat Orakzai and senior leader Iftikhar Jhagra joined the Pakistan Peoples Party on Tuesday.

Until Monday, Orakzai was the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) spokesperson, while Jhagra was a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member.

Orakzai made the announcement at her residence in the presence of PPP’s senior party leadership. She is the second lawmaker to join the ruling party, the other being Shazia Aurangzeb of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who joined the PPP a few days ago.

Orakzai said that she had been sidelined by the PML-Q’s provincial leadership, which forced her to part ways with the party. She added, however, that she had no grudges against the PML-Q’s central leadership.

Jhagra, a former member of the PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), who had quit the party last year, was welcomed back by Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khurshid Shah. The former PTI member announced to join the PPP at his village home.

PPP’s provincial chief Anwar Saifullah Khan, in his speech, appreciated Jhagra’s services for the party. “He (Jhagra) should have been the party’s provincial president at this time instead of me,” Khan said. The PPP leader also downplayed Jhagra’s brief stint with the PTI, terming his return as “better late than never.”

Jhagra said that he was affiliated with the PPP since 1983 and even during his year-long membership with the PTI his heart was with the peoples party. “It seems that I never left,” he said.  However, he did not explain as to why he left the party to begin with.

Shah said he hoped the PPP will form its own government in K-P after the upcoming elections, adding that the PPP has been further strengthened after Orakzai’s induction.

Khan reiterated that they were not interested in entering into an alliance with any party and would form their own government.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2012.