KARACHI: A day after a Pakistan Peoples Party stalwart from Gujranwala announced his defection to the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday received a delegation from the district as part of his mandate given by his father and party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to play his role in saving the party’s fading standing in Punjab.

The delegation from Gujranwala, according to a party spokesperson, called on Mr Bhutto-Zardari and briefed him about the ‘continuous political victimisation’ by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and registration of ‘fake cases’ against their party workers.

The eight-member delegation led by Lala Asadullah, PPP president of Gujranwala city, informed the party chief and vice president Senator Sherry Rehman about challenges they were facing in the district.

However, it is believed that the key focus of the meeting was to discuss the reasons behind the defection of the party’s Punjab vice president, Chaudhry Tariq Gujjar, to the PTI along with other two dozen PPP activists.

According to the spokesperson, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said he would visit Punjab soon and meet the workers to listen to their advice to run the party ‘more effectively and in well-organised way’.

Read more: New advisory council gives go-ahead for PTI reorganisation

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2015

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