OKARA, Sept 1: `Frustrated by their traditional political lords’, people belonging to all castes except ‘Rajput’ and ‘Arain’ have decided to field a joint candidate for a provincial assembly seat.

Wearied of a futile power tussle between elected representatives, traditionally belonging to the Rajput and Arain clans, who have been holding different official portfolios for the past 60 years, they decided to take charge, said an organiser of a dinner-cum-meeting attended here by representatives of Rehmani, Ansari, Malik, Gujjar and Baloch clans.

The dinner was arranged at Municipal Park on Friday night which was attended by around 5,000 people from all clans and tribes. One of the city union council nazim, Haji Afzal Paiji, who is Rehmani by caste, presented himself as an aspirant for the provincial assembly seat.

Bashir Rehmani, a union council nazim from Haveli Lakha, Depalpoor, announced to donate Rs500,000 to run the electioneering campaign for the joint candidate..

The alliance is being taken as serious political threat from the working class clans against their previous political lords.

Tehsil Nazim Rao Jamil Akhtar also attended the dinner and Advocate Shaukat Ali Qureshi, Haji Ramzan Jani Rehmani, union council nazims Nusrullah Rehmani, Muneer Rehmani, Bashir Rehmani and Anwar Sangoka, minorities’ representative Aslam Masih and representatives of various other clans spoke on the occasion.

Afzal Rehmani said his clan (Rehmanis) had given a thought to the poor and working class. He said elders of each clan, whose representatives were present on the stage, would decide a `suitable’ candidate for the seat. However, Rehmai clan held a majority in the city’s population, he maintained.

The first of its kind, dinner-cum-convention was talk of the town on Saturday as it heralds changing political scenario in the city. A display of heavy fireworks during and after the dinner showed how jubilant were the organisers.