PTI sure of winning over 50pc seats in KP

PESHAWAR: The top leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is quite confident of getting over 50 percent seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the provincial assembly and it has been decided to re-appoint Pervez Khattak as chief minister of the province.

Besides senior PTI leadership, former chief minister, Pervez Khattak also confirmed to The News that he has officially been conveyed to get ready for the top position in KP. “Yes, my party leadership has decided to appoint me the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the next term Insha Allah,” remarked Pervez Khattak when reached for his comments. He didn’t agree to a general perception that PTI’s performance was not up to the mark, arguing the PTI was given the province in a very bad shape which needed drastic reforms and enough time.

Pervez Khattak, however, agreed that they had learnt from the past experience and realised which of the public sectors would need more attention when they form the government in the KP.

Like other PTI leaders, Pervez Khattak is dead sure to get more than 50 percent seats of the provincial assembly in KP. He is also confident that PTI would form the government in the KP. He said besides health and education, tourism and agriculture would be top priorities of his government in the future. “Allah has given us a very beautiful province and it can become a hub of national and international tourism. When we form our next government, I will give extra time and resources to tourism and agriculture sectors Insha Allah,” Pervez Khattak pledged.

He said besides improving road infrastructure, his government would allocate enough funds for beautification of tourist spots and facilitating the tourists in all parts of the province. Asked if he had any regret for not being able to deliver in the two crucial sectors, health and education, during the previous tenure, Pervez Khattak argued they had spent Rs40 billion on health and Rs70 billion on education sectors in five years, Rs40 billion on higher education and Rs30 billion on the primary education.

“Actually each and every portion in health and education sectors needed a complete overhaul as old infrastructure had become useless. It took a lot of our time and resources and that’s why we could not build more new hospitals,” said the former chief minister.

Pervez Khattak said after coming into power, he would prefer to complete the long-delayed Peshawar Institute of Cardiology (PIC) and start ‘state-of-the-art’ services there.

“I am aware of the problems being faced by the patients of cardiovascular diseases in the province. We provided funds to PIC whatever was possible in the available resources but let me assure you that PIC would be functional soon after we form the government in KP,” Pervez Khattak pledged.

Asked about an announcement made by former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker, Assad Qaiser that he would no longer accept the offer to become speaker next time and rather claimed that he would be the next chief minister, Pervez Khattak, known as a seasoned and clever politician, simply expressed his ignorance about any such development and said “There should be no ambiguity that I will be the next chief minister,” he insisted.

According to PTI sources, two of their prominent leaders, Assad Qaiser and Shaukat Yousafzai would face a tough competition from rival candidates in Swabi and Shangla, respectively. Imran Khan personally went to Shangla to garner public support for Shaukat Yousafzai and addressed a public meeting which was not quite impressive.

Unlike Peshawar, where he postponed his public meeting due to suicide attack on the Awami National Party corner meeting in which Haroon Bashir Bilour and 21 others were killed and dozens of others were injured, Imran Khan went to almost every major city of the province and addressed public rallies, including at Swabi, Mardan, Dir, Swat, and southern districts. The PTI chairman is likely to suffer defeat at the hands of former federal minister and MMA candidate Akram Khan Durrani in Bannu.

Imran Khan held two huge public meetings in Bannu, the hometown of Akram Durrani, but Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl has a strong vote bank there. The PTI didn’t have a strong leadership to have a physical presence there.

Pervez Khattak said he had successfully pleaded the case of the province’s share with the federal government as net hydel profit, saying as per AGN Qazi formula the federal government used to pay Rs6 billion from 1990 which was later raised to Rs21 billion.

However, he claimed the federal government had agreed to raise the province’s share from next year to Rs100 billion. Pervez Khattak said as he had stated earlier he would inaugurate the Bus Rapid Transit in Peshawar. “Despite a negative campaign launched against the project, it would add to the beauty of Peshawar and facilitate people,” he argued.