NOWSHERA: Former provincial information minister and Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Saturday that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had lost majority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and he should seek a fresh vote of confidence after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmakers blamed him for favoritism.

“MPAs belonging to PTI are against the chief minister and blame him for promoting favoritism and corruption,” claimed Mr Hussain while addressing a public gathering at Khan Sher Ghari here. He said that Mr Khattak had made his own group in every political party he joined and now again he was following the tradition by making his own group in the PTI and ignoring his party lawmakers.

The ANP leader claimed that they were not against the PTI-led provincial government, but it was a fact that due to its incompetence billions of rupees development projects had lapsed.

About the government-Taliban negotiations, he said that both Taliban and government were not sincere in negotiations as they had no members of their parties in the negotiation committees. “When we had engaged militants in talks, we ourselves held negotiations with them,” he said.

The former information minister said that any conspiracy against the country and homeland could not be accepted in any shape. He said that Taliban wanted to make a separate state on the pretext free zone for talks, which would not be acceptable to the ANP.

“We have conveyed to the chief minister and local administration of Nowshera not to tease our workers in the district, otherwise we would come out on roads to support them,” Mr Hussain said and criticised the stoppage of funds by the provincial government to Rashid Hussain Memorial Hospital, Pabbi.

About the LG elections, he said that the PTI-led government was not holding the elections as they knew the results, which would not be in its favour.