PTI to ditch party leaders for ‘independents’ in south Punjab

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–Imran-led party to back South Punjab Province Front candidates in upcoming elections

–Fawad Chaudhry invites JPSM members to join PTI, says south Punjab province part of PTI’s manifesto

 

LAHORE: Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will be supporting the Junoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz (JPSM) – South Punjab Province Front – instead of fielding its own candidate in the upcoming general elections, Pakistan Today has learnt. The decision, which has not yet been confirmed by PTI itself, has reportedly caused unrest among the party’s ticket aspirants from southern Punjab.

According to sources, with the deadline to submit nomination papers for contesting on PTI’s ticket in the upcoming elections ending on Friday, members of both national as well as provincial assemblies, from PTI, have been left distressed as the party has obligated them to submit an affidavit wherein they have stated that they “would not be joining any other party or contesting the elections as independent candidates if the party does not award them a ticket”.

Under oath, they would also “not consider supporting any other candidate but the one that the party has decided to back in the polls.”

“PTI is making a smart move if we realise that Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) lost the 2008 elections because every other person back then was joining the Chaudhry Shujat-led party, but the party could field only one candidate in each constituency,” sources said and added that it was then that a majority of PML-Q ticket aspirants left and either contested as independent candidates or from other political parties.

Stating the reason behind the development, sources said that PTI has had a vote bank of only 20 to 30,000 in the region, and whenever the number of voters was divided between the PTI and the Bilawal-led Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) used to benefit from the situation. Earlier, sources in PTI had told Pakistan Today that their party was in contact with the political heavyweights in southern Punjab and it was likely that many of them would join the Khan-led party before or after the general elections.

“The PTI does not consider JPSM a political party, but if any of its members want to join the PTI, they are more than welcome because South Punjab province was a part of the party’s manifesto,” said PTI Information Secretary Fawad Chaudhry while talking to Pakistan Today.

The PTI has clarified it time and again that it would not join hands with any other political player; however, the party will not field its candidates in the constituencies where the JPSM members agree to join it.

However, the PTI secretary tried to evade the question concerning affidavits being signed and said it was a part of PTI’s application policy as a lot of people had joined the party against a limited number of seats.

It is pertinent to mention that JPSM was formed by eight PML-N lawmakers, who quit the party and announced plans to launch a movement for a separate southern Punjab province. The movement was given momentum as the ruling party was subsequently hit by defections from a large number of lawmakers, some of whom had joined the government after winning the election as independent candidates. Pakistan Today, on March 20, had broken the news that a large number of incumbent and former lawmakers were all set to defect from the PML-N.

While PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, commenting on the defections, had stated that the party members who jumped the ship were never a part of the PML-N, and were “a breed that only brings a bad name to politics”, political analysts believe the ongoing year may witness a maximum number of turncoats from southern Punjab, which currently has nearly 50 seats. According to them, politicians faced “testing times” whenever the general polls were around the corner and more bigwigs would be inclined to join or at least support the group.