Families unite to give PPP a tough time in the elections

PPP insists no alliance can defeat them as they provided gas, electricity and roads.

HYDERABAD:

The Sarhindi and Talpur families of Tando Muhammad Khan have been rivals since 1985 - the two had nothing in common except their mutual dislike for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) that led to an alliance between them on Thursday.

At a press conference, Pir Khalid Jan Sarhindi and Mir Inayat Talpur vowed to defeat the PPP in the upcoming general elections. “The PPP government made anti-Sindh decisions and it is no longer the party of the Bhuttos,” said Sarhindi, who recently parted ways with the PPP after his 27-year-long association.

A landlord and a descendant of saint Pir Abdul Fateh Sarhindi, he was made the chairperson of Hyderabad district council twice when Tando Muhammad Khan was a part of Hyderabad district. However, he was never given the PPP ticket to contest the polls as former federal minister Syed Naveed Qamar and late Syed Mohsin Shah were favourites for the party.

Meanwhile, Talpur entered politics after he won the seat of an MNA in the 1985 non-party elections while his father, Mir Aijaz Talpur, served as a provincial minister in the cabinet of the then chief minister Ghaus Ali Shah. Since then, Talpur has not been able to win the elections even though he contested in 1990, 1993, and 1997.

Tando Muhammad Khan district, which was put on the map during the February 2012 by-elections by the infamous Waheeda Shah Bukhari slap, has one National Assembly and two Sindh Assembly constituencies. In the 2008 elections, the PPP bagged all these seats. The upcoming elections will, however, test the party’s loyalty base following the Sarhindi’s defection.

“We are fielding joint candidates on all the district’s seats,” said Talpur. “In the past, the split amongst us allowed the PPP a walkover.” said Talpur. According to him, Khalid’s cousin Pir Sajjad Jan Sarhindi, who is also the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional’s provincial vice-president, will be their candidate against Qamar on NA-222, while Khalid’s son Pir Saeed Ahmed Jan Sarhindi will contest against former PPP MPA Abdul Kareem Soomro in PS-54. Talpur himself will contest from PS-53 - the constituency that PPP’s late MPA Syed Mohsin Shah won five times since the 1988 elections - against Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari of the PPP. These candidates have the support of the 10-party alliance.

For their part, the PPP leaders insisted they feel no threats from these groups. “We gave gas, electricity and roads to the villages that were cut off from any development,” boasted Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari. Referring to the unsuccessful Mir-Pir-and-Syed Ittehad formed in 1993 against the PPP, he said the party will sweep the polls again. Khalid Jan was, however, not part of the 1993 alliance.
Waheeda Shah, who contested as the PPP candidate in the 2012 by-polls in PS-53, announced that she will contest as an independent candidate. Her participation signalled a further split in the PPP’s support base. However, she withdrew on Thursday in favour of late husband’s cousin, Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2013.