LAHORE – It is highly unlikely that the politician from Lal Haveli will succeed in getting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Imran Khan’s nod for a coalition as some party core group members are bitterly against with Sheikh Rasheed-led Awami Muslim League (AML).
Sources in the PTI said on Saturday that due to the resistance of some important party members, Khan was unlikely to make an announcement about the coalition between the two political parties during his participation in Rasheed-convened Independence Day moot on Sunday (today).
They said after the recent meeting with Rasheed, Khan consulted the matter with his party core group members who advised him not to take any step in haste because the PTI was already being labelled by its opponents as a political wing of the establishment and Rasheed is accused of being their puppet.
The sources quoted the same party leaders as saying that Rasheed was in a hunt for support to his political career that was in shambles after his previous defeat and the party chief should wait till the announcement of upcoming election schedule.
When contacted, PTI Secretary General Arif Alvi said: “Rasheed during the recent meeting with Khan offered him for forging an electoral alliance with the AML as he wanted to forge an alliance with the PTI.”
“Khan neither asked for a coalition nor offered anything to Raheed,” he said, adding Khan hadn’t made any promise with the AML chief”. Alvi, who is also a core group member, said the PTI political strategy committee, comprising core group members, is likely to meet on August 15 to take up the matter.
The PTI leaders, including Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and President Javed Hashmi, are keeping mum over the outcome of Imran-Rasheed meeting which, according to party sources, was a major indication that no coalition is going to be formed.