Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan on Monday reconciled with the political necessity of forging a grand opposition alliance against the government by cancelling his whirlwind visit to Sindh he had announced on party’s Foundation Day on Sunday.

The PTI chairman was supposed to visit several districts of Sindh province from today to begin a fresh countrywide movement against corruption. However, some of his close aides advised him otherwise.

However, that must have cost the PTI chairman an embarrassing moment since he always considered both the PML-N and the PPP chips of the same block. He has been a staunch critic of both federal and provincial governments over their alleged corruption and bad governance.

“From April 26, we will launch an anti-corruption movement in Sindh… and I am coming to Lahore on May 1,” he announced during April 24 address to a big rally in Islamabad’s F-9 Park.

PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haq explained that Khan would visit Karachi on April 30. He said the announcement of launching an anti-corruption campaign in Sindh must have been taken out of context. He tried to downplay the matter when asked why did the PTI chairman make specific announcement at the first place when there was no plan to visit several districts of Sindh.

After Khan’s announcement, senior PPP leader Maula Bux Chandio had challenged him to try his luck and mobilize people of Sindh against his party. Sources said Shah Mehmood Qureshi advised the PTI chairman against opening another political front when the entire focus should have been on exerting pressure on the ruling Sharif family.

He suggested that the opposition parties must lay their difference aside and forge a grand alliance against the PML-N government. He was of the view that annoying the PPP in Sindh would diminish the chances of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s early exit from power.