K & P

Independent-elects left out of LG huddle

The candidates won the lion’s share second only to PTI on May 30

Baseer Qalandar June 08, 2015

PESHAWAR:

Independent candidate-elects, who, according to unofficial results, won the lion’s share second only to PTI on May 30, expressed their reservations about being left out of the all parties conference on Tuesday (today).

Talking to The Express Tribune, independents expressed their concerns over the tussle between political parties and the government, post polls. They complained that although Chief Minister Pervez Khattak called the huddle to find a solution to increasing tensions over LG elections, they were left out in the cold. After the tripartite alliance announced a province-wide shutdown on June 10, asking for dismissal of Khattak’s administration, the government announced an APC for June 9 in a bid to calm things down.

Some independents said leaders of various political parties only approached them when the non-party candidates are needed to help reach numbers to form a government. But, they argued, no party has considered them significant enough to ask for their voice or help in resolving the looming crisis.

Neglecting winners

Independents bagged the second largest number of seats and some of them, like Larama union council’s Gul Afzal and Takhtabad union council’s Ibaduallah, have joined hands against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government.

However, one candidate-elect expressed his desire to stay away from the kerfuffle as he did not find any fault with the election results.

Saidan Shah Bacha, from Jogani union council 92, said he wants to keep a distance from political parties as he experienced discriminatory behaviour from one in the past. Bacha added he was part of PTI but the party’s former K-P general secretary Khalid Masood and other members did not want him to contest the polls, forcing him to quit the party.

Now that he has a seat to his name, added Bacha, Khattak had invited him to the CM House on June 3 to convince him to join PTI.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2015.