NA-156 : PML-N ticket change may boost Qureshi

MULTAN: A revolt has appeared in the circles of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz after the change of party ticket in NA-156 (Multan-III) constituency.

The PML-N workers and more than two dozen union council chairmen and vice-chairmen are among the renegades from the NA-156. They rejected cancellation of party ticket, claiming it will favour Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf candidate Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The PML-N insiders confided The News that former PM Nawaz Sharif invited the PML-N rival groups led by Senator Rana Mehmoodul Hassan and former Punjab prisons minister Chaudhry Abdul Waheed Arian in Raiwind on May 28-29 for reconciliation between both the groups. Nawaz developed a consensus and approved allotment of party ticket to Rana Shahidul Hassan from NA-156. Chaudhry Abdul Waheed was also accommodated by allotment of party ticket to his wife Taslim Kausar from PP-217. Former MPA Amir Saeed Ansari was allotted party ticket from PP-216. The Ansari clan has very rich majority in the constituency.

The workers were of the view that it was a viable solution given by Nawaz Sharif, which compensated all the three influential groups in the constituency, including Ranas, Arians and Ansaris. The Punjab governor hosted a dinner at the Governor House to celebrate the reconciliation.

However, PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif had changed the decision when Nawaz Sharif left for London. The party cancelled the ticket to Rana Shahidul Hassan from NA-156 and allotted to Amir Saeed Ansari, which brought revolt in the lines of PML-N. Workers have started protest drive against cancellation of party ticket to Rana Shahidul Hassan, younger brother of Senator Rana Mehmoodul Hassan.

When The News sought comments from Mehmood, he said the party had first allotted ticket to Rana Shahidul Hassan but cancelled it few days later. “We have been with the party since long and sacrificed for it at all levels but we are not taken into confidence over cancellation of party ticket. The NA-156 is our ancestral constituency and my father Rana Noorul Hassan had contested for MPA seat and won. I have contested and became the MNA. We stand with the party in all good and bad times but we are hurt with this ignoring by the party. We are committed with the party and will follow party discipline at all costs,” told Rana Mehmoodul Hassan to The News on phone.

It is worth mentioning that Nawaz Sharif's reconciliation efforts and formation of candidates in NA-156, PP-216 and PP-217 has largely disturbed PTI candidate Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Addressing a corner meeting in Kotla Moharan a couple of days back, he widely criticised reconciliation between Arians and Ranas. He said both the groups had united against him because they are not committed with any ideology.