Wajihuzzaman may contest Mansehra by-election PML-N bid to woo back ex-MPA fails

MANSEHRA: Wajihuzzaman Khan, who was disqualified as MPA by the Election Commission, would contest the by-election for the vacant seat instead of supporting the candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), sources said on Tuesday.
The sources said that Wajihuzzaman would neither contest the election on PML-N ticket nor support its candidate in the by-election scheduled to be held on June 8.
The PK-57 constituency in Mansehra fell vacant after the Election Commission disqualified Wajihuzzaman Khan on the complaint of the PML-N that he had voted against the party candidates in the Senate election.
However, the sources said that Wajihuzzaman Khan had promised federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Mohammad Yousuf that he would not contest the by-polls if the latter’s son Sardar Shahjahan Yousuf, who is a former MNA, contested from the PK-57 constituency.
They said that Sardar Yousuf and MNA Captain (Retd) Mohammad Safdar, who is the son-in-law of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, visited Oghi to persuade Wajihuzzaman Khan to support the PML-N candidate in by-election.
However, Wajihuzzaman’s supporters didn’t want him to opt out of the competition.Speaking at a gathering on the occasion, the PML-N leaders said that they were in Oghi to resolve their differences with Wajihuzzaman Khan and ask him to support their candidate in the by-election.
“Wajihuzzaman Khan has fallen prey to a conspiracy against our party. We are here to convince him to support our candidate in the by-election. We would give him huge funds for development projects in Oghi,” said Captain (Retd) Safdar.
Captain (Retd) Safdar, who for the first time visited his constituency, NA-21 Mansehra after being elected MNA in the May 2013 general election, said that people should also support the PML-N candidate in the by-election for the prosperity and development of the area.
However, the people present on the occasion shouted that they would not accept mega development projects or any other bribe as they wanted Wajihuzzaman Khan to contest the by-election.
“I would set myself on fire if Wajihuzzaman Khan accepted your request,” an unidentified man in the audience shot back.Wajihuzzaman Khan said his people wanted him to contest the by-election and he would not disappoint them and the final decision in this regard would be taken at a grand jirga this week.“I have no words to describe the support of the people. We will decide the future line of action at the grand jirga this week,” he said.