TOBA TEK SINGH: PPP’s stalwart Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat joined on Wednesday his arch-rival PML-N after the latter’s president Shehbaz Sharif reached the ‘sajjada nashin’ (lineal descendant and successor) of Pir Shah Jewna to have him on board to strengthen the party in Jhang.

Mr Hayat, who played almost all his over five-decade political innings against the Sharifs, has decided to quit the party of Bhuttos in the light of dwindling party vote bank.

“We welcome and thank Makhdoom sahib and his supporters for joining the party. We hope his inclusion will strengthen PML-N in Jhang and Chiniot,” said PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, who was also accompanied by the provincial chapter head Rana Sanaullah and his close aide Malik Ahmad Khan.

Both Shehbaz Sharif and Mr Hayat chose not to take journalists’ questions at the presser. Sources said Mr Hayat had asked Shehbaz Sharif to visit his residence to accord him protocol for his joining the PML-N.

On the occasion, Mr Hayat told reporters that after consulting with the voters in his constituency, he decided to join the PML-N.

Mr Hayat was introduced to politics by his maternal uncle Khalid Ahmed Kharal, a bureaucrat who worked with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the late 1970s.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2023