Mr Rashid had invited the public representatives of NA-55, 56—councillors, nazims, naib nazims and lady councillors—to devise campaign strategy in the backdrop of the tragic assassination of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto.

A host of journalists from print and electronic media were also invited by Mr Rashid. He was anticipating that the meeting would be attended by the elected representatives, which would give an impression that he (Sheikh Rashid) still enjoyed majority votebank in both constituencies.

However, only 25 to 30 members most of them councillors turned up at the meeting to the embarrassment of Mr Rashid. They told the former minister in the presence of mediapersons that the rest of their colleagues had not only refused to attend the meeting but had also withdrawn their support to him.

Rawal Town headed by Sheikh Rashid’s nephew Shafique consists of 46 union councils with each council represented by 11 councillors, a naib nazim and nazim.

Most of the elected representatives (about 470) are affiliated with PML-Q. However, the refusal by them to honour the invitation of the former minister not only stunned Mr Rashid but also the town nazim Sheikh Rashid Shafique when some councillors told the minister that the rest of their colleagues had rebelled against him.

The minister apparently advised the councillors to avoid interaction with the media; however, a councillor from Dhoke Ratta on condition of anonymity told some reporters that his other colleagues would join another political party within few days.

Nazim Satellite Town Imran Hayat when contacted told Dawn on Friday that about 70 per cent of the PML-Q elected representatives had either switched over to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) or Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) due to their differences with the ideology of King Party.

Sheikh Rashid while talking to media said most of the elected representatives could not attend the meeting because of their personal engagements. He claimed that he would sweep the election from both the constituencies. He said his rivals were using the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as a tool for their election campaign.

Meanwhile, the candidates of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) are scared of starting election campaign in areas dominated by the supporters of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N).

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has been confined to his Lal Haveli after the tragic Liaqat Bagh incident, while his Haveli has been surrounded thrice by the angry supporters of both PPP and PML-N who had tried to set the building on fire.

Mr Rashid has not dared to visit the inner city areas as part of his election campaign as he is more vulnerable to be attacked by the opponents.

A close aide of the PML-Q candidate told Dawn on Thursday that the former minister had been advised by the police officials to restrict his election campaign to his residence for at least two weeks in order to avoid reaction from the angry supporters of PPP.