KARACHI: Senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Nabeel Gabol formally announced at a press conference that he has switched to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), DawnNews reported on Sunday.

Timeline: Politicians who have switched loyalties in 2013

Gabol made the announcement at MQM headquarters Nine Zero in Azizabad saying that he stayed with the PPP for 25 years but the party was no longer the party of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

He went on to say that during the five years of the PPP Lyari was time and again neglected and destroyed.

At the press conference along with MQM leader Farooq Sattar, Gabol said, “There are several criminal elements present in Lyari which must be stopped but no one listened to me.”

He went on to say that the PPP and MQM are the two largest parties in Sindh and for the longest of times he was contemplating to leave the PPP as all the other parties in the country had invited him to join them, however, MQM was the only party comprising of people belonging to every class and every social strata.

On this occasion, Farooq Sattar welcomed Gabol and said that his inclusion would dispel any misunderstandings.