LAHORE, Dec 13: The dissident duo, Senator Safdar Abbasi and his wife Naheed Abbasi, are trying to rebound from their dormant place in the PPP through advising party chairman Bilawal Bhutto to follow the political ideology of his mother, Benazir Bhutto, and grandfather Zulfikar Bhutto.

“Bilawal should tread upon the path of his mother and the grandfather and not his father (Asif Zardari),” Ms Abbasi said at a press conference at the residence of Hur Bokhari on Tuesday.

The couple’s aversion to Mr Zardari is not a secret since the latter sidelined them when he took the rein of the party after the assassination of Ms Bhutto in December 2007.

Bilawal has been seen in active politics for the last two weeks in the absence of Mr Zardari who is hospitalised in Dubai. Newspapers published his pictures with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and PML-Q leaders Shujaat Husain and Pervaiz Elahi.

Senator Abbasi said Bilawal had better started meeting with party workers and focusing strengthening the party. He showed his displeasure at Bilwal’s meeting with PML-Q leaders.

The couple wished him good luck and prayed for the health of Zardari.

Ms Abbasi said the people around Zardari were more loyal than the king destroying the party. She said it was unfortunate that no committee had been made to look into the reasons as to why diehard PPP workers were quitting the party. She said it was unclear who was running the country as the PPP leadership was hiding from the people.

The couple announced organising an event in connection with the party’s foundation day on Dec 18 in Lahore.  — Staff Reporter