NA-249: PPP refuses to withdraw candidate

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League’s senior vice president and secretary general of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s mission-Karachi turned up to be failure as the PPP refused to withdraw its candidate from the NA-249 contest for the National Assembly’s berth.

A prominent economist Miftah Ismail is contesting as the PML-N candidate from the constituency, which has fallen vacant due to the resignation of a sitting minister who was in the grip of serious disputes.

Well-placed sources told The News here the other day that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi visited the Zardari House to seek the PPP’s support for his party’s candidate last week and had an extensive meeting with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He urged Bilawal to withdraw his party’s candidate Qadir Mandokhail in the light of the PDM “spirit.” Bilawal promised to return to the PML-N after consulting his party. The sources revealed that now the PPP has communicated that it wouldn’t withdraw its candidate, instead the PML-N should withdraw its candidate. The sources said that PSP Chairman Mustafa Kamal and PTI nominated Amjad Afridi are major rivals of Miftah.

The polls will take place on April 29. The ANP also put its candidate in this provincial constituency but the defiance of the ANP was ignored.