Ticked off over tickets: PPP workers up in arms

Zardari arriving in Naudero to handle matters personally.

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD:

Even though the deadline for filing nomination papers has come and gone, the Pakistan Peoples Party has yet to finalise its candidates in Sukkur, Larkana, Qamber-Shahdadkot, Ghotki and Kandhkot Kashmore districts.

According to sources, President Asif Ali Zardari had assigned the task to his sister, former MNA Faryal Talpur before leaving for Dubai on Saturday. However, Talpur, who has been residing at the president’s camp office in Naudero since Saturday evening to resolve the matter, has been unable to step up to the plate. For this reason, President Zardari is arriving in Naudero tomorrow to deal with the issue himself, sources added.

The inordinate delay in awarding tickets has caused resentment among party workers, with some vowing to contest the elections as independent candidates, if the PPP’s decisions are not in their favour.

The party has yet to award a ticket for NA-204 Larkana, creating discontent among the Bhutto clan. Former MNA Shahid Hussain Bhutto, Moazam Abbasi, and PPP Larkana district vice president Khair Mohammad Shaikh have filed nomination papers on the seat. To appease the Bhutto clan, the PPP has earlier announced that the party ticket would be awarded to Abdul Fatah Bhutto; however, his name was struck off, paving way for Mohammad Ali Bhutto and former district Nazim Larkana Khursheed Junejo.

According to sources, the head of the Chandio clan, Sardar Khan Chandio, was promised a ticket for NA-206 when he joined the party; however, much to his displeasure, he was awarded a ticket for PS-42 Warah instead.

The former speaker of the Sindh Assembly has been awarded a ticket in PS-36, while some disgruntled party leaders have also filed nomination papers on the seat as independent candidates.

Sources said that President Zardari is expected to arrive in Naudero on April 3.

Meanwhile, the approval for Azra Fazal Pechuho, President Zardari’s sister, to contest from NA-213 in Nawabshah was put on hold during her nomination form scrutiny on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2013.