MANSEHRA, April 29: A solo flight by senior Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf leader and candidate for NA-20, Mansehra Azam Khan Swati could cause a serious blow to the party in the coming elections as Mr Swati instead of supporting his party candidates at the provincial assembly’s constituency is supporting other candidates.

PTI candidates in the two national and five provincial assembly constituencies in the district are learnt to have been upset with Mr Swati as he has been working for and supporting their rivals.

A PTI candidate said Mr Swati was supporting Nawabzada Salahuddin Saeed in NA-21, Khurram Khan in PK-53, Syed Munir Shah in PK-54, Sajid Mumtaz Khan in PK-55, Haq Nawaz Khan in PK-56, and Zulfiqar Khan in PK-57.

“It is unfortunate that Mr Swati is ignoring us and supporting independent and other candidates in his constituency. This can cause a serious blow to the party on May 11,” he said. The candidate said PTI leadership should send observers in every Mansehra constituency to monitor Mr Swati’s activities.

He said Mr Swati was supporting his brother, Laiq Mohammad Khan, in NA-21 instead of party candidate Nawabzada Salahuddin Saeed.

He added that PTI could win the maximum number of seats in the district if its local leaders, especially Mr Swati, favoured its candidates.

An insider said some local PTI leaders had apprised the central leadership of Mr Swati’s support to candidates other than fielded by the party, but to no avail.

When contacted, PTI district secretary general Ishtiaq Khan Swati said he was unaware that Mr Swati had been supporting candidates other than his own party’s.

He said at times, both national and provincial assembly candidates of the same party didn’t show up in every meeting together and thus, causing some misunderstandings in the minds of the people. Mr Ishtiaq said PTI chief Imran Khan would address a big public meeting in Mansehra on May 3 and preparations for it had been in full swing.