Ex-Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar joins PML-Q

Former Punjab governor and ex-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar Sunday announced joining of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

Sarwar made the announcement after a meeting with PML-Q’s supremo Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. The PTI-led government removed Sarwar as Punjab governor in April last year after he had developed differences with the party leadership.

Earlier this year, sources revealed that he was offered to join Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-Q, as the battle for the ‘Punjab throne’ intensified during the assembly dissolution episode in January.

The sources privy to the matter also said that Chaudhry Shujaat met the former PTI leader twice back then and offered him to join his party.

According to local media, the former governor had decided to join the PML-Q two days ago, however, the official announcement about his joining the party was to be made today.

"I was invited to join the Pakistan Muslim League," the politician said during a presser adding that his first priority would be to "strengthen the party".

Expressing his dissatisfaction with the current state of political affairs in the country, Sarwar said: "Politicians are not willing to sit together in the most difficult of situations."

He added that politicians work for power when they are in the Opposition, however, no one thinks about what they must do after arriving in the office.

Sharing his views about the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government in Islamabad, the former Punjab governor said that the PDM should have to take strong measures economically.

Sarwar, while speaking about his accomplishments during his tenure in the governor's house, said he appointed the university's vice-chancellor on merit.

After his removal from the governor's office last year, the politician criticised his former party's leadership slamming its "foreign conspiracy" narrative.

However, he vowed to stand behind Khan despite reservations.

"On the one hand, there was the prime minister and, on the other, it was the entire PTI. Bribery has reached grassroots levels, but we vowed to stand with Khan," he added.