ISLAMABAD: Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan resigned from the post of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor on Monday.

A senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and a source in the Prime Minister House confirmed that Abbasi's resignation had been accepted by the prime minister, and forwarded to the president for approval.

PML-N sources told DawnNews that Sardar Mehtab Khan stepped down to pursue a role in parliamentary politics.

Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi took oath as the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 14, 2014.

Affiliated with PML-N, Sardar Mehtab had remained chief minister of the province from 1997-1999,

Hence he was the first person to have the honour of becoming both the governor and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Read: Sardar Mahtab — wearing uneasy Fata crown

A veteran in politics

Sardar Methab’s political career spans over more than 30 years. He became member of the then NWFP Assembly in 1985, and did so in 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1997.

He won both the National Assembly and provincial assembly seats from Abbottabad in 1990, 1993 and 1997. He missed the 2002 general elections as his government was ousted by military ruler Pervez Musharraf and was sent behind bars in a wheat scandal case. NAB cleared him in the case in 2003. He was elected to Senate in 2003.

He won the 2008 elections from Abbottabad by defeating his arch rival Amanullah Khan Jadoon. But, in 2013, he lost the NA seat though he secured more votes than his previous elections. However, he won the provincial assembly seat and was made opposition leader in the KP Assembly.

He resigned from the KP assembly seat in April 2014 after his nomination by the federal government as governor of the province.