PTI govt in KP may face forward bloc - thenews.com.pk
Delawar Jan
Saturday, March 15, 2014
From Print Edition
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PESHAWAR: The fragile government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is seriously menaced by its own disaffected members of the provincial assembly from Mardan who are trying to win support of other MPAs to form a ‘forward bloc’ in the party.
The PTI government could face serious challenge if it loses support of only seven MPAs, the number the estranged group claimed has acquired. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s government has the support of 69 MPAs in the 124-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
Iftikhar Mashwani, who is one of the three disgruntled MPAs from Mardan, spoke rebellious about their plans. “We are going to make a ‘forward bloc’ if the chief minister didn’t change his behaviour and our reservations were not addressed,” he told The News. “We are three MPAs from Mardan and won support of four more from the southern districts of the province. One MPA is going to join us from Peshawar,” he said, indicating that they had already launched a campaign to form the ‘forward bloc’.
Khalid Masood, provincial general secretary of PTI, debunked the seriousness of the division and expressed confidence that no ‘forward bloc’ was going to appear in the party. “This is just a disagreement which will be solved in the coming two or three days,” he said when asked to comment on the threat posed by the MPAs to PTI. “Disagreement is part of democracy and we also have difference of opinion within our party,” he argued.
The general secretary said the government faced no threat as the 18th Amendment did not allow change of loyalty of members of the assembly.The PTI has a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP). One of the coalition partners, the Aftab Sherpao-led Qaumi Watan Party was expelled by Imran Khan on charges of corruption. As the party has internal differences, PTI also has uneasy relations with JI and AJIP over the running of the affairs of the government.
Iftikhar Mashwani alleged that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had brought them to this point and he was responsible for it. He complained of discrimination in distribution of funds and continued refusal by the chief minister to meet them. “For two months, I have been requesting the chief minister for a meeting but he has yet to see us,” he said. “The MPAs are not being taken into confidence on the issues,” he complained.
He alleged that a lion’s share of development funds was being spent in Nowshera and Swabi and other districts had been ignored. Nowshera is the constituency of the chief minister and Swabi is the native district of Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Asad Qaiser. “The chief minister is discriminating against us in funds distribution,” he alleged. “For example, we are given Rs30 million and some MPAs from Peshawar have got Rs200 million to Rs300 million,” he claimed.
Khalid Masood said MPAs might have been influenced by the groupings within the cabinet. The disaffected MPAs complain that the government did not start development projects in their constituencies. They also said the law and order situation had deteriorated but the chief minister failed to take any action.Shiraz Paracha, spokesman for the chief minister, said he had no specific details on the issue and promised to share the version of the chief minister if he got one.
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few months ago PTI fan boys were wishing division in MQM