LAHORE - Differences between the PTI leadership in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the resignation option to pursue Azadi March targets have begun to crystallise more clearly, with most of KP carders being in favour and Punjab’s being against this step.
Sources close to PTI top brass told The Nation on Saturday that slight differences between party’s Punjab and KP chapters had emerged during a May meeting but the matter remained under the carpet as many things about the proposed march were not in shape at that time. But the differences sharpened after Imran Khan announced the Aug 14 March and strategy for it was finalised.
The statement of party’s KP MNA Hamidul Haq proved a catalyst who told media on Saturday that 16 MNAs from his province would hand over their resignations to party chairman tomorrow (August 4). The same day unconfirmed reports were aired on some TV channels that PTI Punjab Assembly members would also handover their resignations to party chief in August 4 party meeting.
But Mian Mehmood Rasheed, Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly and PTI core committee member, when called said: There is no truth in the reports that PTI provincial assembly members are handing over their resignations to party chairman. He insisted: Party chairman has not directed any party chapter to hand over resignations to him during upcoming core committee meeting.
When asked about the differences over the resignation option, he claimed: PTI runs its affairs through the collective consent of the core committee and an important announcement like resignations could not be made by anyone other than the party chairman himself. Mehmood was short of words when asked how a party member could make such a serious announcement without authorisation from the highest level.
About the party meeting that witnessed the first encounter among the party ranks over resignation issue, Mehmood avoiding direct comment said: Though the resignation option came under discussion in party meetings held for Azadi March but no decision was made in this regard. He added: Differences can emerge when members of party’s policy making body suggest different proposals on different matters but the differences find their way out when majority set aside any proposal.
Party sources quoted the Punjab chapter leaders as saying that PTI should not opt for the resignation option even as the last resort to pursue the targets of Azadi March. These leaders, who include Imran’s two top lieutenants, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Javed Hashmi, are of the view that PTI could not afford the political consequences of resignations when the other major opposition parties were standing on the other side of the political divide. They say the party could afford such a political gamble only if Azadi March were a joint campaign of all the opposition parties under a single opposition alliance.
On the other hand, most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leaders believe that the party should use this option to send a strong message to the ruling party that they would not be ready for anything less than a complete audit of all the votes cast in 2013 general elections.
They think that resignation option, whether it proves a political suicide for the party or not, would prove the metal of party leadership and its elected representatives among the masses.