PESHAWAR, Dec 4: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf leader Iftikhar Khan Jhagra and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid provincial information secretary Nighat Orakzai on Tuesday formally joined Pakistan People’s Party.

Mr Jhagra and Ms Nighat announced their decisions during separate functions at their residences in Jhagra village and at Kohat Road, Peshawar, respectively.

Mr Jhagra remained associated with the PPP and also served as provincial minister thrice before joining the PTI in 2011 when Senator Sardar Ali was made party’s provincial president. He said that he took the decision to re-join the PPP after meeting MNA Faryal Talpur a few weeks ago.

Several senior PPP leaders, including federal ministers Syed Khurshid Shah and Arbab Alamgir, National Assembly deputy speaker Faisal Karim Kundi, provincial president Anwar Saifullah, general secretary Mohammad Humayun Khan, health minister Zahir Ali Shah and women wing president Asma Alamgir, were present on the occasion.

Mr Jhagra said that he had joined the PTI last year, but always felt misfit in the party. “I will use my energies for strengthening Pakistan People’s Party and try to regain my lost position in the party. I would continue struggle for people’s welfare and betterment of the province,” he said.

Mr Jhagra claimed that he had never compromised on principles nor demanded any key seat in the PPP, but came back due to his respect for its leadership.

Federal Minister Syed Khurshid Shah praised the efforts of party’s new leadership for showing good performance and bringing several important personalities to the folds of PPP in short span of time.

He welcomed Mr Jhagra on behalf of the party’s leadership and claimed that the PPP would win next general election and again form government.

Party’s provincial president Anwar Saifullah Khan said that Mr Jhagra had offered many sacrifices for the party. Some of Jhagra’s supporters, including Iftikhar Ali Shah and Zulfiqar Chamkani, also joined PPP on this occasion.

Mr Saifullah also praised the role of Ms Nighat in the provincial assembly and claimed that the PPP would win overwhelming majority in next general election in the country.

He said that the PPP’s central leaders would visit Peshawar next week to devise a plan for launching aggressive election campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier, in the morning, PML-Q’s woman MPA and its provincial information secretary Nighat Orakzai announced joining the PPP during a press conference at her residence on Kohat Road.

“I am ready to quit my assembly seat if the PML-Q filed a reference against me,” she announced and added that she took the decision after much thinking because the provincial leadership always kept her in the dark about party (PML-Q) issues.

The woman lawmaker claimed that the PML-Q central and provincial leadership was unable to run the party affairs and people were leaving it. She said that the party continued to ignore her though she was its provincial information secretary.