June 14, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1429

MUZAFFARGARH, June 13: Following into his lineal politics style, Nawabzada Mansoor Ahmad Khan has put his weight behind an opposition candidate for PP-258 bypoll giving sleepless nights to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) hopeful.

Pakistan Democratic Party Chairman Nawab Mansoor has announced withdrawing his son, Nawabzada Ahmad Khan, from the poll race in favour of independent candidate Haroon Sultan Bukhari. The PPP has fielded Dr Zakaullah Jatoi, brother of Member of the National Assembly Moazzam Jatoi.

Nawab Mansoor is the political heir to the late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, who had a reputation to unite the opposition against the government.

Qayyum Jatoi won this seat besides NA-280 in the Feb 18 elections and later he left PP-258. The Election Commission has announced by-poll here on June 26.

Most of the candidates trying their luck are from the ruling Jatoi group, who claim that Mr Jatoi had promised them the PPP ticket after winning the elections. First the Jatoi group announced the PPP ticket for Akhtar Gopang, a former union council nazim, and later Abid Bukhari as their hopeful, but ended up with Dr Zaka. The decision created differences in the party.

Independent candidate Bukhari was a Pakistan Muslim League-Q candidate in the Feb 18 elections, and lost to Mr Jatoi with 300 and something margin. Now, he is contesting the election as an independent.

He said the PML-Q had no vote bank in this district. He said for the bypoll he first approached the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) for a ticket but was refused because of a PPP-PML-N deal.

The support of the Nawab family gave boost to the Bukhari group, and Mr Bukhari is also sure to win the support of Nawabzada Iftikhar Khan, PML-Q senior president.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Iftikhar said his group would take a decision within two or three days. PPP candidate Dr Zaka said bypolls were always an easy ride for the ruling party and the PPP had a big vote bank here. He said only one-to-one contest could be a real fight, but in the presence of over a dozen candidates he would win the seat with a big margin.