Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza and his family members have officially parted ways with the PPP and announced on Sunday that they will contest the forthcoming elections from the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) platform.

During a press conference held in Karachi, the estranged PPP members including Zulfikar, his spouse and former speaker of National Assembly, Dr Fehmida Mirza, and their sons Barrister Hasnain Mirza and Hassam Mirza announced their decision to stand for the elections from Badin on GDA tickets.

Meanwhile, credible sources disclosed to Dawn that Dr Fehmida had also held talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership on the possibility of them joining the Imran Khan-led party, but both parties "could not reach an agreement on certain terms and conditions".

The Mirzas, who arrived in Badin in the 90s after establishing sugar mills near Pangrio and Kadhan town, contested their first election in 1993.

That year, Dr Zulfikar had contested the election from the NA-172 constituency (now NA-230) on a PPP ticket against Murtaza Bhutto and won.

After the PPP government was toppled in 1993, Dr Zulfikar remained an absconder for the next ten years after having been implicated in several cases including those of murder.

During this difficult time, his wife contested the next elections and defeated Pakistan Muslim League- Functional's Syed Ali Bux aka Pappu Shah from the same constituency with a thin margin.

Dr Fehmida won against Bibi Yasmin in the 2013 general elections and became the third woman after Benazir Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto to have been elected on a general seat in four consecutive elections.

Also read: The Zulfiqar Mirza saga

Dr Zulfikar himself was elected a member of Sindh Assembly in 2013 after he defeated Pappu Shah.

Their elder son, Barrister Hasnain Mirza was also elected PPP's member of provincial assembly (MPA) from Tando Bago.

Over the years, Zulfikar's relationship with the PPP, especially his close friend Asif Ali Zardari deteriorated, with Zulfikar openly levelling serious allegations of corruption against the former president and PPP co-chairman.

In February 2015, former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon had categorically denied the allegations and said that if Zulfikar had lost trust in the party and its leadership, then the party disowned him.

A day later, PPP suspended Zulfikar from the party’s central executive committee.

In May 2015, he was booked along with his associates in multiple cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act on charges of attempted murder, attacking a police station and forcible closure of shops in a market of Badin district.

But following the registration of cases against the disgruntled PPP leader, the situation in Badin turned tense when police laid siege to his farmhouse to arrest him and his associates.

Zulfikar and his supporters claim that the cases registered were political in nature, and were part of heavy-handed tactics by the PPP provincial government. He was granted pre-arrest bail in all the cases.