Despite Imran Khan’s announcement: PTI’s forward bloc irritates leadership over resignation decision

ISLAMABAD: A sizeable number of members of the National Assembly (MNAs) belonged to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), have decided to constitute a forward bloc in the wake of announcement made by ousted prime minister and chairman PTI Imran Khan on Monday, regarding stepping out of the Parliament.

The sources close to the PTI defectors told ‘The News’ that the decision of party chief regarding quitting the Parliament is not a sane action, claiming that Imran Khan would have to regret soon about his decision to resign from the NA and other assemblies. It is expected that a united opposition would be formed by the MNAs, which would join the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and the PML-Q. The sources pointed out that the dismal number of the PTI MNAs had opted to resign from the NA, while most of them already declined to quit from the National Assembly, causing discomfort in the party leadership.

Despite the announcement made by the outgoing deputy speaker National Assembly, no resignation of the MNA has yet reached at the NA secretariat till late evening on Monday. The government is prepared to hold by-elections on the seats to be vacated by the PTI members. The session of the National Assembly has been adjourned by the acting speaker till April 16 and the movers of the no-trust motion against the deputy speaker would agitate the matter on the day of the session. The deputy speaker could also step down before the meeting of the NA, as he bounds to lose the vote of no-confidence, the sources pointed out.