Damaging blow: PML-Q likely to lose last heavyweight in K-P
MNA Muhamamd Nawaz Khan Alai will consult his family before making final decision.
Its last MNA from NA-22 (Battagram), Muhammad Nawaz Khan Alai, is now likely to quit the party.
ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid is gradually losing its political strength in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as its last member of the National Assembly from the province is likely to defect. Its four MNAs have already jumped ship.
The PML-Q had won five National Assembly seats from K-P in the 2008 elections. Its last MNA from NA-22 (Battagram), Muhammad Nawaz Khan Alai, is now likely to quit the party.
“I have started consultations with my family for the future line of action as I am the only elected candidate left in the party in K-P,” Alai told The Express Tribune. He has won the seat three times in the past and his father Ayub Alai has also won it in the past.
“These five seats won by PML-Q candidates in 2008 were due to their personal influence as well as the family vote bank and not due to the party,” Alai added.
But he did not openly state that he was leaving the party. “We are basically Muslim Leaguers and all likeminded party leaders had formed the PML-Q in the absence of Nawaz Sharif and there is no harm in joining the PML-N.”
He added that, including the PML-N, many parties had contacted him to join them. “My family will soon decide on whether I stay with the PML-Q or join any other party.” However, a close aide said he might join the PML-N.
The five seats won on PML-Q’s ticket were Sardar Shah Jahan Yousuf’s NA-20 (Mansehra), Alai’s NA-22 (Battagram), Humayun Saifullah’s NA-27 (Lakki Marwat), Amir Muqam’s NA-31 (Shangla) and Prince Mohiuddin’s NA-32 (Chitral).
Muqam and Prince Mohiuddin joined the PML-N and All Pakistan Muslim League, respectively. Khan’s brother Anwar Saifullah Khan joined Pakistan Peoples Party and has been elected its provincial president and another brother Salim Saifullah Khan is leading the PML-Likeminded. Yousuf has also defected to the PML-N.
When contacted, PML-Q’s K-P chapter President Syed Qasim Shah said that despite the MNAs leaving the party, it still had strength in the province. “Politicians come and go from the parties and it does not make any difference.”
He also dispelled the impression that Alai was parting ways with the PML-Q before the elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid is gradually losing its political strength in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as its last member of the National Assembly from the province is likely to defect. Its four MNAs have already jumped ship.
The PML-Q had won five National Assembly seats from K-P in the 2008 elections. Its last MNA from NA-22 (Battagram), Muhammad Nawaz Khan Alai, is now likely to quit the party.
“I have started consultations with my family for the future line of action as I am the only elected candidate left in the party in K-P,” Alai told The Express Tribune. He has won the seat three times in the past and his father Ayub Alai has also won it in the past.
“These five seats won by PML-Q candidates in 2008 were due to their personal influence as well as the family vote bank and not due to the party,” Alai added.
But he did not openly state that he was leaving the party. “We are basically Muslim Leaguers and all likeminded party leaders had formed the PML-Q in the absence of Nawaz Sharif and there is no harm in joining the PML-N.”
He added that, including the PML-N, many parties had contacted him to join them. “My family will soon decide on whether I stay with the PML-Q or join any other party.” However, a close aide said he might join the PML-N.
The five seats won on PML-Q’s ticket were Sardar Shah Jahan Yousuf’s NA-20 (Mansehra), Alai’s NA-22 (Battagram), Humayun Saifullah’s NA-27 (Lakki Marwat), Amir Muqam’s NA-31 (Shangla) and Prince Mohiuddin’s NA-32 (Chitral).
Muqam and Prince Mohiuddin joined the PML-N and All Pakistan Muslim League, respectively. Khan’s brother Anwar Saifullah Khan joined Pakistan Peoples Party and has been elected its provincial president and another brother Salim Saifullah Khan is leading the PML-Likeminded. Yousuf has also defected to the PML-N.
When contacted, PML-Q’s K-P chapter President Syed Qasim Shah said that despite the MNAs leaving the party, it still had strength in the province. “Politicians come and go from the parties and it does not make any difference.”
He also dispelled the impression that Alai was parting ways with the PML-Q before the elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.