LG elections: Sukkur Development Alliance to contest polls against PPP

The SDA has decided to take a stand against dynastic politics and 'looting and plundering'

SUKKUR: After mercilessly looting the development funds for the last four decades, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders have once again joined hands to bring their kith and kin into the mix, accused the chairperson of the Sukkur Development Alliance (SDA), Jawed Memon.

He was addressing a press conference at his office on Thursday when he criticised the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, and Senator Islamuddin Shaikh. Both of them are both responsible for turning the city into ruins, he said, adding that the two leaders have a vested interest and have promised to put aside their differences merely because the local government elections are approaching.

Memon said they are once again going to cheat the people of Sukkur as their 'union' is just to bring their sons to the forefront of the political scene.

According to him, the purpose of forming the SDA was to draw the attention of the elected representatives towards the poor condition of the city through staging protests and sit-ins. "But, the elected representatives, who are serving their own interests, paid no attention to our protests and are taking advantage of the absence of other political parties in the city by trying to get their candidates elected unopposed," he claimed.

Therefore, all political and social parties that are part of the SDA have decided not only to field their candidates but also to support independent candidates who are sincere and loyal to the city, he said.

According to Memon, the SDA comprises 16 parties, including the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam- Fazl, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani, Sunni Tehreek, Pakistan Muslim League Functional and the Sukkur Shehri Ittehad, and all of them have resolved to oppose the PPP's candidates on every union council. Various trade bodies have also expressed their support to the SDA in the upcoming local government elections.

President of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Ghulam Mustafa Phulpoto, said our respective parties have allowed us to field candidates from the platform of the SDA. He added that PPP leaders are dreaming of a clean sweep in the LG elections but they would not allow them to manipulate the situation in their favour. "With the support of the citizens of Sukkur, we will defeat the candidates fielded by corrupt politicians," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2015.