Former PTI minister accuses Khattak of ‘horse-trading’

PESHAWAR: Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi on Monday accused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak of being involved in ‘horse-trading’ in the Senate elections.

Afridi who joined Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in August 2017, made the allegation hours after PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed that some KP lawmakers had ‘sold’ their votes in the Senate polls. Later, the party’s parliamentary secretary said that names of these members would be shared with Khan.

The PTI had been under immense pressure in KP where its disgruntled members were considered to be a threat to Khattak and were unlikely to contest on party tickets in the forthcoming general elections.

The PTI had nominated seven candidates for the Senate, including Abdul Latif Yousufzai, Faisal Javed Khan, Fida Hussain, Khayal Zaman, Muhammad Ayub, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati and Mehr Taj Roghani.

According to sources, Khattak divided party lawmakers into groups and directed them to vote for particular candidates. Much to his dismay, only one group of cabinet members voted for Faisal while the rest changed their priorities, they added.

It is pertinent to mention here that despite ‘horse-trading’ claims, the PTI managed to bag four seats. But, it was not the disgruntled members that cost PTI one seat. Afridi was said to have played a major role in manoeuvring MPAs to shift their loyalties to PPP’s side. This move ensured that PPP won two seats instead of one as the party had only seven members in the KP Assembly.

Although the possibility of money exchanging hands cannot be ruled out, friendly relations between Afridi and PTI members and their common grievances against Khattak may have encouraged lawmakers to shift loyalties, a PTI insider told a private media organisation.

When asked why the disgruntled members voted for Zaman, the source revealed it was because Khattak was not in favour of the candidate. “It is believed that Khattak and Zaman have differences,” he said. “This could be the reason why the disgruntled group was encouraged to vote for Zaman,” he added.

Regardless of Zaman being on good terms with the disgruntled members, they knew the KP chief minister would have taken credit for Zaman’s win – a situation that was not acceptable to the dissenters. The insider claimed that majority of those who allegedly took part in the ‘horse-trading’ were women parliamentarians.

“The women parliamentarians had reservations over the allocation of funds,” a close aide of Khattak revealed. “He prioritised men over women members by pitching opponents against his own party members.”