PPP may split in Sargodha
This became evident on Wednesday when local PPP leader Shoaib Awan claimed at a press conference that the party’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto had confirmed his ticket for PP-33 and denied it to a new entrant.
Earlier, local PPP leaders Mamoor Ahmed Bhatti, Rana Hakim Khan and Malik Azizul Haq with the blessings of central leader Ehsanul Haq Piracha had persuaded former Tehsil Nazim Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi and Naib Nazim Mirza Mohammad Ilyas into joining the PPP, who accepted the offer on the condition that Mr Qureshi and Mr Ilyas’s brother, Advocate Mirza Mohammad Afzal, would get the party tickets for NA-66 (Sargodha Tehsil) and PP-33 respectively. The local PPP leaders asked Mr Qureshi and Mr Afzal to launch their campaigns as the party nominees.
Meanwhile, the central leadership asked Rao Abdul Ghafar Khan and Shoaib Awan to contest the election on party tickets for NA-66 and PP-33 respectively.
According to sources, PPP activists were not happy with Mirza Afzal who, they believed, had celebrated the execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
It may be mentioned here that Mirza Afzaal was in a position to get extra votes for the PPP as his Mughal Biradari reportedly had a vote-bank of 10,000.
Advocate Shoaib Awan has had a life-long association with the PPP and is currently working as the PYO president for Sargodha division. However, Mr Awan does not live in PP-33, which may prove disadvantageous for him.
The local leadership is still supporting Mirza Afzaal, fearing that it may also lose Mr Qureshi, on whose motivation Mirza Afzaal and his family had joined the PPP.