Last-Minute Defection: MC leader joins PPP ahead of by-polls

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will field Chaudhry Ashraf against Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry in the LA-3 Mirpur by-elections. Ashraf was the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC) candidate for the by-elections, but joined the PPP on Monday in a surprise move. “I have joined the PPP to serve the people of Mirpur, who have been exploited by Barrister Sultan for a long time,” he said at a press conference alongside AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. Sultan recently left the PPP to join Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with a few other AJK politicians. Muslim Conference President Sardar Attiq Ahmad Khan, while reacting to Ashraf joining the PPP, said Prime Minister Majeed had stolen his candidate. “It shows that the PPP could not find a suitable candidate from their own ranks,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2015.