Annoyance over award of PTI tickets: Tareen leaves for London with his family

ISLAMABAD: PTI’s senior leader and former secretary general Jehangir Khan Tareen is in Britain along with his family for the last two days after reportedly getting disappointed over the award of tickets, particularly with regards to southern Punjab.

“Tareen Khan Sahib left for London two days back, having some health issues and is expected to be back within a few days,” confirmed a senior PTI leader, who is close to him, but he requested not to be identified here.

Differences between Tareen and Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Multan are not a secret and have been a headache for party Chairman Imran Khan, who has made several attempts to sort out their issues but hitherto, has not fully succeeded.

In a recent interview with Geo, he conceded that differences existed between Tareen and Qureshi. However, even before his interview, a tug of war surfaced between the two in the media.

Within hours, his name was included in the list of candidates, Ali Tareen announced not to contest the elections, citing his academic engagements abroad. One wonders if he was unable to take part in elections, then how his was name taken up for consideration by the parliamentary board. And, if he had applied for ticket, then how all of a sudden, he realised he was finishing his academic year later this year and hence would not be able to focus on polls.

The PTI had given him a ticket to contest from Lodhran. Previously, he had been runner up in a by-election early this year, losing to PML-N’s Iqbal Shah by a margin of 26,200 votes.

“Tareen was also unhappy over withdrawal of ticket from former minister Sikandar Bosan and the telling blow came after Sehar Group from Layyah decided to part ways with the party despite having been given four tickets: one for NA and three Punjab Assembly constituencies,” he maintained.

These tickets have now reportedly gone to Niazi group, enjoying support of Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Sources said Imran Khan has taken back tickets from several candidates in South Punjab recommended by Jehangir Tareen and given that tickets to candidates backed by Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

In Vehari, tickets have now been awarded to Tahir Iqbal and Khalid Mehmood Chohan instead of Nazir Jatt and Ayesha Nazir Jatt. Khalid Khakwani from Multan, Zeeshan Gormani, Murtaza Rahim Khan and Abdul Haye Dasti from Muzaffargarh said the PTI took back the tickets after initially awarding tickets to them. Candidates of Janubi Suba Mahaz backed by Tareen were also ignored in the award of tickets. Similar situation was reported from Rajanpur and now Tareen-backed candidates have tickets only in Lodhran. Sources said most of the candidates who were deprived of tickets have decided to contest the polls as independents.