Big blow to PTI as Khakwani joins PPP today

MULTAN: The PTI has received a major dent in Multan as PTI city president Dr Khalid Khakwani is going to join the PPP Friday (today). “The PTI has ditched me and played with my political career after consuming my resources. Finally, I have decided joining the PPP and will contest from NA-155 (Multan-II) on a PPP ticket,” Dr Khalid Khan Khakwani told The News exclusively on Thursday.

Earlier, Khakwani applied for a PTI ticket from NA-155 but PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi recommended Malik Amir Dogar for the ticket. Khakwani belongs to a politically influential Khakwani family with dominant votebank in the constituency. His father Ghulam Qasim Khan Khakwani had remained the mayor of Multan city for several years and introduced welfare projects for the development of the city.

Analysts believed that he would give a tough time to the PTI and PML-N candidates. He had established PTI Multan city secretariat at his residence on LMQ Road and organised the party at union council level besides dispatching caravans for the party’s Islamabad sit-in. He had played a key role from Multan in PTI’s Azadi March and provided vehicles to youth for the purpose.

“I have organised the PTI at grass-root level across Multan and consumed my time and resources and expecting the party’s acknowledgment regarding my dedication but I am betrayed. They tried to destroy my political career,” he added. He said he was the Multan city president of PTI but he was not consulted at any level and decisions were imposed.

The man behind the move is former premier Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, who made a deep dent in the PTI. When this scribe contacted Gilani, he did not deny and said, “I will comment later.”