Round two: PTI MPA-elects jostle for cabinet positions

As influential office bearers expectantly await portfolios, recent additions to the party are also hopeful.

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA-elects are lobbying for their preferred ministerial portfolio in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government, even as some seem assured of being handpicked for what they see as their strategic strengths.

After settling the apparent stand-off for the chief minister (CM) slot between Asad Qaiser and Pervaiz Khattak – the latter now PTI’s proposed CM – the party is faced with extensive internal political manoeuvring, with MPAs elected on party tickets vying for their desired portfolios.

Clause 130 (6) introduced in the 18th Constitutional Amendment allows a maximum of 15 members in the K-P cabinet. The PTI has a maximum of eight cabinet spots to award to its party’s MPAs, given the fact that there are other parities joining the PTI to form the provincial government. This gives PTI MPAs a bottle-necked turf to compete on.

However, the ministerial slots come at a certain price for PTI candidates. According to the party’s constitution, PTI office bearers must resign from their party positions if they receive a portfolio in the cabinet. All the prominent PTI figures elected to the provincial assembly are also office bearers of the party in the province.



Asad Qaiser will have to relinquish the position of PTI provincial president if he finds a spot in the provincial cabinet. Likewise, Shaukat Yousafzai will resign as the provincial general secretary if he is given a portfolio in the K-P cabinet.

The same goes for central joint secretary Atif Khan, central deputy information secretary Shah Farman, district Peshawar president Yasin Khalil, district Swat president Dr Amjad, district Karak president Gul Sahib Khan, district Kohat president Imtiaz Qureshi and southern region president Ali Amin Gandapur.

But PTI office bearers are not the only MPAs competing for portfolios, with lesser known party candidates also looking to secure a seat in the cabinet. Ishtiaq Urmar, Fazal Elahi, Tufail Anjum, Mehmud Khan, Sardar Idrees and Yusuf Ayub are all in the run for a piece of the eight-seat cabinet pie.

This is the second instance of internal politics after PTI chairman Imran Khan swooped in and ended the conflict on the CM designate by appointing Khattak. However, these negotiations are more delicate as many new party members, ex-independents and an expectant electorate are closely watching the decision-making process to see if the PTI remains true to its promise of merit-based appointments.

“I was elected as an independent candidate from Bannu; then I joined the PTI,” Shah Muhammad Khan told The Express Tribune.

“I represent the far southern region where the PTI did not have a strong presence, let alone an elected candidate, so I also expect to be accorded a due role in the provincial cabinet,” said Khan, who joined the party on Saturday.

“I am not interested in the agricultural ministry as offered by Pervaiz Khattak,” maintained Fazal Elahi, a PTI MPA elected from Peshawar. “Actually, I am more interested in a local government ministry, so I am better placed to serve the people.”

The remaining seven ministries are to be awarded to coalition partners Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP) and the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP).  Potentially, the JI and QWP will take three ministerial positions each while the AJIP will get one ministerial slot.

Decisive partners

PTI’s coalition partners lean on their past experience in the affairs of the state and have almost finalised their candidates for ministerial positions. The JI candidates for ministries of finance, education, and zakat and usher are Sirajul Haq, Inayat Ullah Khan and Habibur Rehman, respectively.

Without missing a step, the QWP agreed Sikandar Sherpao and Bakht Bedar Khan will represent their party in the provincial cabinet as irrigation and labour ministers, respectively.  Abdul Karim Tordher is yet to be assigned a ministry.

The coalition partners, including the AJIP, have yet to actually sit in a room and finalise which ministries would fall under which party.

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