KARACHI: Former federal minister Firdous Ashiq Awan has resigned as vice president of Pakistan Peoples Party Punjab, she said in a statement on Friday, adding that chairman Bilawal Bhutto should be given a chance to form his own team.

Awan also met party chairman Bilawal Bhutto in Karachi today and apprised him of her reservations in relation to party affairs in Punjab.

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The former minister claimed the leadership had disowned the party in Punjab, where it was being victimised by PML-N’s heavy handedness. She said except for Sindh, the PPP was in shambles everywhere, adding that it was time for an overhaul among party ranks.

“The PPP is ill and a major surgery is needed to set things right again.”

According to Awan, Bilawal declined to accept her resignation and assured her that her concerns relating to party policies and victimisation at the hands of the ruling PML-N will be addressed within a few days.

Bilawal further told Awan she would soon see the uncertain situation in the party changing, Awan said.

Awan told Dawn.com that the party leadership sacrificed the political interests of Punjab to save the political interests of Sindh which created panic among PPP leaders in the province.

“The PPP is not in power in the province while it failed to play the role of ‘real opposition’ according to the wishes of the masses of the province. That’s why the party representatives believe that they are ‘irrelevant’ for the PPP in Punjab,” Awan said.

It is pertinent to mention here that a number of key PPP leaders from Punjab including former state minister Syed Sumsam Ali Bokhari and former provincial minister Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna announced to join PTI at the residence of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in Bani Gala on Wednesday.

Also read: PPP suffers another blow in Punjab as Sumsam Bokhari joins PTI

Former federal minister and information secretary of the PPP, Qamar Zaman Kaira, while talking to Dawn.com earlier, said the situation was very difficult for the party. "This is why some PPP leaders are feeling ‘weary’ in the present circumstances."

“The PPP had failed to win in the general elections of May 2013 and faced disappointment in by-elections held in different constituencies in Punjab. Those quitting PPP want to join the winners to secure their political future,” Kaira said.