PTI rules out alliances for LG polls

Karachi
Rejecting the prevailing rumours of a possible alliance with other political parties, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday announced that it will fly solo in the upcoming local bodies’ elections scheduled for December.
However, the party is eyeing a seat adjustment with other political forces and will be use it whenever necessary.
MPA Khurrum Sherzaman, who is also the chief organiser for district South, said the PTI was in no mood to form alliances with any political party and wanted to participate in the local government election without anyone’s help. However, he pointed out that there would be no seat adjustment in Lyari and the party will contest the election separately in the Pakistan People’s Party’s stronghold.
He said PTI will nominate its candidates in all the 15 union councils of Lyari and would form a “Naya Lyari” there and make it a model town, an example for rest of Karachi to emulate.
He said Lyari was an area that had been the centre of political power but the PTI expected to release it from the PPP’s clutches because the people too wanted to change whom they voted for since they had been ignored terribly.
He said with the PPP existential crisis in the face of former president Asif Ali Zardari not being at the forefront of country’s politics, the PTI had enthusiastically jumped in to challenge the PPP in its most secure backyard.
He said the party had been talking to various community leaders of Lyari who had extended their support to Imran Khan with the hope that the fate of Lyari would change soon.
A political analyst while commenting on the matter said PTI’s decision to contest in Lyari was mainly been driven by the belief that PPP has been put on the back pedestal due to the poor strategies and policies of its high command. So there was nothing naive about PTI’s desire to challenge the PPP in a constituency that had been at the heart of its power base.