GUJRAT: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is due in Gujrat on July 7 where he will reportedly try to pacify the disgruntled party workers who have been very upset over the party’s seat adjustment with the PML-Q in the district.

PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who has been declared a joint candidate of PML-Q and PTI may also address the public meeting along Imran Khan. If it happens this will be the first ever public appearance of Mr Khan with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat as he has always avoided joining hands with them in public.

Sources in the PML-Q say the PTI has not yet formally informed the Q leadership about Imran’s Gujrat visit. The venue for the public meeting is said to be the Zahoor Elahi Stadium; however, it has also not yet been announced by the party formally.

Almost all of the PTI aspirants from Gujrat tehsil, including Afzal Gondal for NA-69, Zubair Tanda for PP-28, Shahid Anwar for PP-29 and Raja Naeem Nawaz for PP-34, have already announced to quit the election race. However, there is a strong reaction within the local ranks of the PTI, particularly in Gujrat tehsil, as out of total six seats (two NA and four PA seats of the tehsil) have been given to the PML-Q and the PTI’s only candidate in the tehsil is Saleem Sarwar, a candidate for PP-31, Gujrat city. However, Tanveer Gondal, an aspirant of PTI ticket from NA-68, did not accept the party decision and he has made a seat adjustment with the Muttahida Majalis-i-Amal (MMA). He is in the run for PP-29 (Jalalpur Jattan) while on NA-68 he has announced his support for the MMA’s Hafiz Zubair Ahmed. Before coming to Gujrat, the PTI chief is also scheduled to visit Jhelum.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018