Fissures: Dual office of K-P CM takes a serious turn
Reports of Imran Khan asking Pervez Khattak to give up party post confirmed.
CM Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and PTI Chairman, Imran Khan. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
PESHAWAR:
The dual office of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and other ministers seems to have polarised relations between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) federal and provincial chapters.
Deputy General Secretary PTI and Media Adviser to Imran Khan, Imran Ismail confirmed to The Express Tribune that the developments were true.
“The media reports in connection with the Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting are correct,” Ismail said.
The Express Tribune had published a report on the PTI’s CEC meeting in which the party chairman Imran Khan had asked K-P CM Khattak to relinquish his party post as the PTI’s manifesto did not allow him to carry two portfolios.
However, the chief minister had claimed that the news was baseless and the members of the CEC had shown their support for him.
This was followed by an official statement by the party’s central media cell which stated that the news report was “misleading and baseless”.
While Khattak told the media in Nowshera that the CEC had entrusted him with a two-third vote of confidence, Imran Ismail said that not only was the claim to support dual office incorrect, “there had been no vote of confidence during the session.”
Ismail added that not just the chief minister, but Health Minister Shaukat Yousufzai, Elementary & Secondary Education Minister Atif Khan and K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser were holding more than one office which was against the party’s manifesto.
“It was the party’s internal matter and would be dealt with internally,” Ismail said.
A report published earlier had stated that CM Khattak had preferred his position within the party over the slot of the chief minister of the province.
The PTI has been severely criticised because many of the party members are enjoying more than one lucrative portfolio. This has been severely debated in the recently concluded session of the K-P assembly.
Meanwhile, PTI members have protested over allotment of tickets for the by-elections to be held on August 22, accusing its leadership of nepotism. The recent developments are going to be a challenge for the newly-elected government in K-P to deal with.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2013.
The dual office of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and other ministers seems to have polarised relations between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) federal and provincial chapters.
Deputy General Secretary PTI and Media Adviser to Imran Khan, Imran Ismail confirmed to The Express Tribune that the developments were true.
“The media reports in connection with the Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting are correct,” Ismail said.
The Express Tribune had published a report on the PTI’s CEC meeting in which the party chairman Imran Khan had asked K-P CM Khattak to relinquish his party post as the PTI’s manifesto did not allow him to carry two portfolios.
However, the chief minister had claimed that the news was baseless and the members of the CEC had shown their support for him.
This was followed by an official statement by the party’s central media cell which stated that the news report was “misleading and baseless”.
While Khattak told the media in Nowshera that the CEC had entrusted him with a two-third vote of confidence, Imran Ismail said that not only was the claim to support dual office incorrect, “there had been no vote of confidence during the session.”
Ismail added that not just the chief minister, but Health Minister Shaukat Yousufzai, Elementary & Secondary Education Minister Atif Khan and K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser were holding more than one office which was against the party’s manifesto.
“It was the party’s internal matter and would be dealt with internally,” Ismail said.
A report published earlier had stated that CM Khattak had preferred his position within the party over the slot of the chief minister of the province.
The PTI has been severely criticised because many of the party members are enjoying more than one lucrative portfolio. This has been severely debated in the recently concluded session of the K-P assembly.
Meanwhile, PTI members have protested over allotment of tickets for the by-elections to be held on August 22, accusing its leadership of nepotism. The recent developments are going to be a challenge for the newly-elected government in K-P to deal with.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2013.