Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) faced a major setback in Sindh when its former Provincial President, Sardar Nadir Akmal Khan Leghari bid farewell to his party and joined the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP).

It was learnt that the former PTI leader held a detailed meeting with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PPP Parliamentarian President Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi on Thursday. A Bilawal House spokesman confirmed the meeting between the PPP top-brass took place and that Leghari has shown his full confidence in the PPP leadership and decided to join the party.

Leghari also discussed the current political situation with the PPP leaders. He will formally announce his alliance with PPP in his hometown at Daharki of District Ghotki, a source close to the affairs told Daily Times.

Political analysts have termed this move a major blow to PTI in Sindh as the party was striving hard to gain ground in Sindh province.

They further said PTI seems unhurried in trying to control the damage within the party. There was a general impression that a group of influential members dictate to the PTI Chairman Imran Khan but party members often were sidelined and later left the party due to this attitude.

PPP is gaining ground in Sindh and it is likely that the PPP leadership will upset political parties in other provinces, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Punjab, analysts observed. Leghari joined the PTI in 2010, and was elected president of Sindh chapter in March 2013.

Previously, he succeeded in contesting the election from PS-7 Ghotki-III in 2002 on a Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) ticket and served as the Provincial Minister for Irrigation and Power until 2007.

He lost his seat in the Sindh Assembly from Ghotki to the PPP’s Sardar Ahmed Pitafi in the 2008 general elections and did not contest the 2013 general election.