MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi seems to be going the extra mile these days to win over the constituents during his visit to his hometown on weekend.

Political observers say the minister, unlike his previous tenures as MNA, has started visiting his constituency and asking people about their problems.

He took rounds of his constituency by motorcycle on Thursday and invited the attention of the people who gave him a warm welcome. Mr Qureshi is already spend weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in his constituency despite having a high-profile portfolio and busy schedule.

“He (foreign minister) is spending the last two days of a week in the constituency where he holds meetings, attends ceremonies and tries to solve the issues of his voters,” said Malik Javed Janbaz Bhutta, one of his supporters in Union Council 43.

He said although his team and sons look after the affairs in his absence, people demand his presence as they believe that the issues will be quickly solved through his intervention.

Last week, Mr Qureshi held a meeting with the heads of various departments at Circuit House. Deputy Commissioner Amir Khatak and the PTI parliamentarians attended the meeting.

On Thursday, he came out from his house by motorcycle and visited various areas of union councils in his constituency. He visited Sharifpura, Usmanpura, Shaheenabad and other areas of union councils 17, 18, 19, 37, 38 and 39 where he held meetings with the delegates of people. He even went to the narrow streets on foot to have first-hand knowledge of the issues.

“History bears testimony to the fact that whenever I got power, I left no stone unturned to solve the issues of the masses. Despite the busy schedule as foreign minister, I spend time with the people of Multan, my constituency and friends,” he said. He said he played a key role in tabling of a bill in the National assembly for the creation of south Punjab province.

In the 2018 general election, Mr Qureshi won NA-156 seat by obtaining 116,383 votes against his opponent PML-N’s Amir Saeed Ansari who got 84,969 votes.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2019