PPP, ANP and JUI-F form alliance for LG polls
Syed Bukhar Shah, Friday, January 17, 2014, Source
PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have agreed to enter into an alliance for the forthcoming local government (LG) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The central and provincial leaders of the three major political parties discussed the formula at a meeting held at the residence of former PPP provincial president Rahimdad Khan on Thursday. It was decided to hold another meeting on January 22 and later announce its decisions at a press conference.
Former senior minister Rahimdad Khan, National Assembly’s former deputy speaker Faisal Karim Kundi, former federal minister Najmuddin Khan and provincial general secretary Humayun Khan represented the PPP at the meeting. Former provincial ministers Mian Iftikhar Hussain and Syed Aqil Shah, Ghulam Mustafa and Sadruddin Marwat were the ANP representatives at the meeting. JUI-F Senator and former district nazim Haji Ghulam Ali and former provincial minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai represented the JUI-F. Later, PPP provincial president Khanzada Khan also attended the lunch hosted by Rahimdad Khan in honour of the participants.
Talking to this scribe, Rahimdad Khan said that they had in principle agreed to contest the elections as part of an alliance and field joint candidates. However, he said representatives of all the parties would discuss the coalition formula with their central leadership. He added that the joint candidates of the PPP, ANP and JUI-F would be contesting elections on their respective party symbols. He said they had already empowered district organisations of the parties to chalk out future strategy with the allies after taking the provincial and central leadership into confidence.
He said there was a realisation among all the democratic parties to join hands for the coming local government elections and serve the people in a better way. Rahimdad Khan said they had been discussing the alliance for the last several months and were ready to contest the elections jointly. However, he said there was no hurry as some people have already challenged the local government elections in the Peshawar High Court.