ISLAMABAD: The grandson of Nawab Muhammad Farid Khan Nawabzada Salahud Din and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan worked out a seat adjustment plan in Bahawalpur for the upcoming elections, reported Express News on Tuesday.
The alliance came after a disappointing turnout of relations between Nawab Salahud Din and the Awami National Party (ANP).
Salahud Din joined ANP during a public meeting at Shergarh Manshera on July 11 last year.
Salahud Din, who was lobbying for the creation of Tanawal district, was promised by then Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief minister Amir Haider Hoti that a new district will be carved out if he joins the party. Hoti had said this knowing that ANP has a nominal vote bank in the Pakhtun areas of Hazara.
Despite Hoti’s announcement, the Tanawal district never became a reality, leaving Salahud Din disappointed and reducing his political space.
Salahud Din was pushing the ANP to establish a presence in a district that had always opposed the party. He finally turned to the PTI leadership after the Gul brothers from Torghar switched from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) to PTI.
Commenting on the movement of politicians from PTI to Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N), Imran Khan said “I wont criticize Nawaz today, instead I want to thank him. He has taken all the corrupt people from our party to his own. I thank him“.
“We will leave our seats but we will not give a ticket to a corrupt politician”, he went on to say.
PTI is also in talks with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) for possible seat adjustments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.