MARDAN: Differences have allegedly cropped up in the local chapter of Pakistan People’s Party, splitting it into two groups.

One group is led by former PPP provincial president Senator Haji Khanzada Khan while the other is headed by former KP assembly speaker Abdul Akbar Khan.

Sources in the party told Dawn that the differences developed when Senator Haji Khanzada Khan’s group backed ex-district president Nawab Zada Aurangzeb Khan while Akbar’s group favoured party’s district naib nazim Asad Ali Kashmiri for the ticket on PK-24 constituency for the 2018 general elections.

The differences were further widened, when the Akbar-led group held a workers’ convention on Monday, prompting the other group to hold a similar gathering on Tuesday to show their respective strength.

The convention held on Monday was attended by Akbar Khan, Senator Robina Khalid, Zahir Shah Toru, Shazi Khan, Shuja Salim Khan and Asad Ali.

On the other hand, the second convention was attended by Senator Haji Khanzada Khan, Abdus Samad Khan, Aurangzeb Khan and Asad Khan, son of former senior provincial minister Rahim Dad Khan.

However, at both the conventions, the party leaders didn’t drop any hint that the party was facing internal rifts, and said the PPP always fought for the rights of the poor.

They said the party workers’ love for late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto could not be diminished ‘through negative propaganda by the establishment and their political rivals’.

They alleged that the party mandate was snatched through a well-organised plan in the last general elections. They, however, claimed that the party would win the coming general elections, proving false the speculations of their political rivals that the PPP had vanished.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016