File photo of former Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi quashed rumours about his quitting PTI and contesting polls as an independent candidate.
The rumours had surfaced when Qureshi left the column of party affiliation blank in his nomination papers for NA-228 (Umerkot) Sindh.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Qureshi ruled out the possibility of contesting the upcoming elections as an independent candidate. Qureshi said that he was “working with Imran Khan and will contest elections on PTI ticket. I cannot even think of contesting elections independently.”
When asked about the blank party affiliation column, he claimed it was simply a political strategy. “I did it all in consultation with Imran Khan,” he explained.
Rifts in ranks
The process of awarding tickets has created a serious internal rift in the PTI, as close to a dozen ‘electable’ leaders have now decided to contest elections independently.
PTI sources told The Express Tribune that Imran Khan on Friday failed to convince these leaders, who were not happy with the party’s top leadership over the ticket distribution mechanism developed by the PTI’s parliamentary board.
Party sources also said that the rift in ranks came to the surface during the intra-party elections and further deepened with the decisions of the parliamentary board on distributing tickets to workers.
Party tickets
PTI leaders Sikandar Boson, Jamal Khan Leghari, Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Aseff Ahmed Ali, Abdullah Virk, Aleem Khan, Mian Azhar, Jamshed Cheema, Mansha Sindhu, Talib Sindhu and a few others have submitted their nomination papers as independent candidates with the Election Commission, the sources added.
“I’ve yet to take decision about whether I will contest independently or not,” Sikandar Boson said. The Leghari brothers have already filed their nomination papers as independent candidates, while Aseff Ahmed Ali also refused to accept the party ticket last week.
Jamshed Cheema, Mansha Sindhu, Aleem Khan and Talib Sindhu already announced they would return the party tickets for the important constituencies of NAs 119, 120, 124, 125 and 127. Aleem Khan argued that the tickets for these constitutes were awarded to political novices who have never contested against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s top leaders in Lahore.
Things appeared to be worsening despite PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s efforts to calm protesting workers in Lahore. “I simply opened my gate & spoke to PTI’s angry but dedicated workers protesting outside. Mutual trust reinforced,” Imran Khan said on his official twitter account.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2013.
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Imran can give tickets to lamp posts and people will vote for them. And the PTI angry brigade, if one exists at all, knows that. This will all be sorted out in a few days. ET should have a review if its wasting ink policy--it is obviously having the opposite effect of what Lakson group wants.