Siraj depending on PTI to get elected to Senate

PESHAWAR: The Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq is largely depending on the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, its coalition partner in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to reach the Upper House of Parliament for the first time.
Despite the fact that the PTI has offered complete support to Sirajul Haq in his run for the Senate seat, the JI is likely to support the candidate of the rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for the Senate seat from the federal capital. The JI has a few MNAs and they are expected to vote for the PML-N candidate. In the past also, the JI has backed the ruling PML-N in the centre and at the same time aligned with the PTI in KP.
Sirajul Haq along with other leaders of the partyon Wednesday held meetings with PTI chief Imran Khan, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and other MPAs as part of his campaign for the Senate polls.
Some JI leaders got worried after the reports of alleged use of huge amounts of money in the Senate elections. They wanted the PTI leadership to ensure that the PTI MPAs put in the panel of Sirajul Haq would cast votes for him with sincerity. In return, JI will support the PTI candidates for the technocrats, women and minorities seats.
PTI has put its members in different panels to make sure they vote for Sirajul Haq and the PTI candidates in the Senate polls.
The JI is the second major coalition partner in the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. The third coalition partner is Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan, which has fielded Liaqat Khan Tarakai, father of the chief of the party and Senior Minister Shahram Tarakai, for a Senate seat.
There are reports that PTI is supporting Tarakai on the condition that AJIP would be later merged in the PTI. However, no one from the AJIP has yet confirmed this piece of information.
The JI has eight members in the 124-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. They include Sirajul Haq, Muzaffar Said, Inayatullah, Malik Behram, Habibur Rahman, Saeed Gul, Mohammad Ali and Rashida Zafar. The party has four members in the National Assembly.
The JI is making all-out efforts to get its chief elected to the Upper House of the Parliament. Sirajul Haq became the party chief in March last year.
Though the party doesn’t have the required numerical strength in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to get Sirajul Haq elected as a senator, it has struck bargain with its coalition partner in KP government for the purpose.Sirajul Haq is currently MPA) from his native Lower Dir district.