PESHAWAR: Disgruntled Awami National Party leader and former caretaker minister Adnan Jalil is set to join the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Mr Jalil, who is the son of senior ANP leader the late Haji Mohammad Adeel, met PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad early last week.

He told Dawn that he informed Mr Zardari about his intention to join the PPP and was welcomed.

“They [PPP leaders] will address a news conference in Peshawar in a day or two in which I will formally join the party,” he said.

Says party leadership didn’t respond to his demands

Mr Jalil said he had developed differences with the ANP’s leadership and many people tried in vain to patch up things between him and the leadership.

He said he wanted the party’s leadership to respect him and involve him in the party’s affairs.

The former minister said that after his last week’s meeting with Mr Zardari, he sought a week’s time from the PPP to ask the ANP leadership if it wanted to address his concerns.

He, however, said that the ANP leadership didn’t pay attention to his demands and even didn’t bother to respond.

Mr Jalil said that the PPP was a national party and had the 18th Constitutional Amendment among other things to its credit.

He said that he had submitted his nomination papers for PK-81 constituency of the provincial assembly but he was not interested in the ANP’s election ticket.

“I never asked the ANP for the award of a poll ticket all through my political career,” he said.

The ANP leader said that he would contest elections only if the PPP’s leadership asked him to do so.

“I’m not going to join the PPP for election nomination,” he said, adding that he asked the ANP leadership only for respect.

In Jan this year, Mr Jalil took oath as a minister in the provincial caretaker cabinet led by the then chief minister, Mohammad Azam Khan, and was assigned the portfolio of industries, commerce and technical education.

His name was proposed for the cabinet berth by the ANP. However, he was de-notified from the cabinet in July at the request of his party.

Mr Jalil confirmed to Dawn that he was removed by the caretaker government at the ANP’s formal request.

“My name was proposed for the caretaker cabinet by the ANP. If it’s no longer interested in me as its man in the cabinet, I couldn’t stay put,” he said.

Mr Jalil’s father Haji Mohammad Adeel was among senior leaders of the ANP and was elected member of the provincial assembly in 1990, 1993 and 1997.

He also served as the finance minister in the provincial government of CM Pir Sabir Shah in 1993. He acted as the deputy speaker of the provincial assembly between 1997 and 1999.

Mr Adeel also held his party’s key positions, including parliamentary leader in the Senate, senior vice-president, chairman of the election commission, and member of the central and provincial executive committees.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2023