ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The secretary-general of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Jahangir Badr, has said there is no chance for any member of the Patriots group being welcomed back into the party.

In a statement here on Wednesday, the PPP leader said there had been some miscommunication between him and the reporters, attending his press conference, after a joint meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the Federal Council of the party on Tuesday.

Mr Badr said the party and the workers considered all those, who contested elections on the PPP ticket and then ditched the party in the most critical time, as "spineless renegades and political opportunists."

"The renegades and opportunists must be made to pay the price for their disloyalty to the party, its chairperson, the people and the democratic process, he said. It may be mentioned that in the said press conference when reporters asked questions about possibility of Ghulam Mustafa Khar or any member of the Patriots group returning to the party, Mr Badr had stated that there was a procedure in the party under which a person could rejoin the party after tendering an apology. He also had stated that a party always got strengthened when someone joined it.