LAHORE - In a major setback to the PPP, Ashraf Sohna, otherwise a die-hard party jiayala, has finally decided to part ways with the PPP in protest against what he says the anti-party policies of Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, party’s central Punjab president.
“I am going to resign tomorrow (Monday) as district president of Okara and provincial head of People’s Labour Bureau, Punjab as a first step {to leave the party},” Sohna told TheNation on Sunday.
He said he would formally announce this decision on Monday (today) at a press conference at Lahore Press Club at 5 pm.
Dropping a hint at his possible joining of the PTI, Sohna said he would decide his future course of action in the next couple of days.
He said he was leaving the two party offices in protest against the anti-party policies of party’s central Punjab President Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo who sought personal allegiance from him. “I can remain loyal to the party ideology and not to any individual,” he asserted.
Sohna, who also served as provincial minister in a coalition government of the PPP and PML-N in the previous tenure, alleged that Wattoo wanted him to work for his personal interests rather than party interest. He said he could not work for the party under such circumstances.
“I have been constantly telling the top PPP leadership about my concerns about this Wattooism being promoted in the party. But since the leadership seems disinclined to addressing this issue, I have decided to choose my own course,” he further told this scribe.
Meanwhile, Mian Manzoor Wattoo said on Sunday that Sohna had already been stripped of the two offices after reports of his joining the PTI.