GUJRAT: Former PPP MNA and PML-Q’s ex-ticket holder from NA-107 (Kharian, Sara-i-Alamgir), Rehman Naseer Marala, who called on the PTI Chairman Imran Khan at the latter’s Banni Gala residence in Islamabad on Friday last, has denied joining the party.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Marala said that during his meeting with the PTI chief he had only discussed the possibility of his group joining the party.

However, he added, that he would decide the future course of action after holding consultations with his group in the NA-71 (formerly NA-107).

Mr Marala, who is a maternal grandson of former president of Pakistan, Fazal Elahi Chaudhary, was elected MNA in 2002 from NA-107 on the PPP ticket.

However, he later joined the PPP-Patriot and then contested the last two general elections (2008 and 2013) as well as a by-election held in December 2012 as a PML-Q nominee, but lost all the three bouts. In 2013 poll he had stood third.

The possible joining of Mr Marala may result in a revolt within the PTI ranks since the party’s district head Chaudhary Muhammad Ilyas has also been a candidate from the NA-71. Mr Ilyas was runner-up in the constituency, securing some 60,000 votes as a PTI nominee.

Moreover, the local PTI sources said Mr Marala’s first cousin Tashfeen Safdar Marala, daughter of ex-MPA of the PPP’s Safdar Marala had already joined the PTI in 2011 and was an aspirant of the party ticket from NA-71. They said she had some political differences with her cousin Rehman Naseer.

A local PTI leader told Dawn that the PML-Q’s former ticket holder from PP-115, Naeem Raza Kotla, and his brother Shahid Raza Kotla, a former nazim of kotla union council, may also join the PTI along with Rehman Naseer Marala since the Kotlas are main allies in Mr Marala’s local group.

However, he said both Mr Marala and the Kotlas wanted an assurance with regard to the PTI ticket prior to joining the party.

Both Naeem and Shahid Kotla are brothers of PML-N lawmakers MNA Abid Raza, MPA Shabeer Ahmed and district council chairman Chaudhary Tanveer Kotla. However, the brothers are in different political groups since MPA Shabeer Kotla of the PML-N and Naeem Raza of PML-Q had contested the last general elections against each other from PP-115 (Kharian-Kotla).

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2018