PML-N appoints Bashir Memon as new president of party’s Sindh chapter

F.P. Report

LAHORE: The PML-N on Tuesday decided to appoint Bashir Memon, who has recently joined the party, as its Sindh chapter president as Nawaz Sharif wants a strong organisation for developing strong roots in the province by attracting voters in both rural and urban areas.

At the same time, a notification issued by the party says Shah Muhammad Shah, the current provincial party head, will now serve as vice president

The development comes on a day when an MQM-P delegation led by its convenor Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and comprising Dr Farooq Sattar and Mustafa Kamal reached Lahore for consultations with Nawaz and other top PML-N leaders.

Sources say the PML-N has proposed seat adjustment to the MQM-P on national and provincial assemblies’ seats in the upcoming general elections, with the party also eyeing electoral cooperation with JUI-F and GDA.

Memon’s appointment comes with an aim to make the provincial leadership independent of Lahore’s influence for decision making.

Persistent interference by the PML-N central leaders in Sindh is the main criticism that the party has been facing and the reported decision can help it reaching voters across the province.

The main, if not the only, reason behind the mercurial rise of Memon in the PML-N is his strong conviction that the party should go for closer electoral understanding with other parties to enable it enter the provincial politics an effective fashion.

Soon after joining the party in September, he was the first PML-N leader to say in public that it would opt for election alliance with the MQM-P and the JUI-F in Sindh – a move that is seemingly materialising within a month.

Memon rose to prominence by revealing, when the PTI was in power, that the then prime minister had personally asked to file fabricated cases against Maryam Nawaz and Khawaja Asif at a time when the PML-N leaders and workers were being targeted ruthlessly. However, he refused to obey the directions.