F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi on Monday accused Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak of “horse-trading” in the Senate elections. MPA Afridi, who joined Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in August 2017, made the allegation hours after PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed some KP lawmakers had ‘sold’ their votes in the Senate polls and the party parliamentary secretary said names of those members will be shared with Imran.
The PTI has been under immense pressure in K-P where its disgruntled members are considered to be a threat to Khattak and are unlikely to contest on party tickets in the forthcoming general elections.
The PTI had nominated seven candidates for the Senate – Abdul Latif Yousufzai, Faisal Javed Khan, Fida Hussain, Khayal Zaman and 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. The rest changed priorities. It is pertinent to note that despite ‘horse-trading’ claims, the PTI managed to bag four seats. But, it was not disgruntled members that cost PTI one seat. Afridi is said to have played a major role in maneuvering MPAs to shift their loyalties to the PPP. Where the PPP was expected to win one, it secured two seats despite having just seven members in the K-P 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 media.
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.” Regardless of Zaman being on good terms with the disgruntled members, they knew the K-P chief minister would have taken credit for Zaman’s win – a situation not acceptable for the dissents. The insider claimed that majority of those allegedly party of ‘horse-trading’ were women parliamentarians.
