TOBA TEK SINGH, Sept 24: Differences have developed between PPP office-bearers and leaders over support to candidates for the slots of district and tehsil nazims. PPP federal council secretary-general Khalid Kharal and district PPP president and former MNA Haji Ishaq are supporting Begum Neelum Jabbar who is contesting for the district nazim slot against ruling party candidate Chaudhry Abdul Sattar. City president Zulfiqar Ali, the brother-in-law of Begum Neelum, is also supporting her.

On the other hand, party’s district secretary-general Saeed Akhtar and former interior secretary and PPP defeated candidate for the National Assembly seat from district headquarters Hafeezullah Ishaq are supporting Chaudhry Sattar.

Both Saeed Akhtar and Hafeezullah Ishaq told this scribe that the party had not decided to nominate Begum Neelum as its candidate for district nazim as she along with others had made an Ittehad group before the first phase of the local polls against former district nazim Chaudhry Ashfaq. Various political figures of the area and almost all political parties were united on one-point agenda to give defeat to Chaudhry Ashfaq and the group had succeeded in its agenda, they said.

They said the only aim behind the PPP’s joining of the Ittehad group was to get rid of ugly politics of Chaudhry Ashfaq who had left the party in its bad days just to get district nazimship. But when the ruling party refused to support him, he made Begum Neelum agree to contest for the district nazim slot.

They said the staunch supporters of Chaudhry Ashfaq were supporting Begum Neelum, but ‘conscious’ workers and office-bearers of the PPP were not ready to support her.

They said many party leaders were opposing ruling party candidate for tehsil nazim Javed Iqbal, the brother of Chaudhry Ashfaq and father-in-law of ruling party MNA Mian Farhan Latif, and supporting MMA candidate Dr Zahid Sattar. They claimed that Begum Neelum was not opposing Javed Iqbal, and this was a proof that she was backed by Ashfaq.