ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan faces opposition from within his party as he welcomes dissidents of the rival parties aiming to strengthen his hold on Punjab.
The first voice of course was from his wife Reham Khan who rejected the very idea of changing loyalties. "I can never endorse changing political affiliations. I have always been against changing political affiliations," she said hours after some Pakistan People's Party (PPP) bigwigs joined the PTI.
PPP leaders Samsam Bukhari, Ashraf Sohna and Arif Khan Lashari had joined the PTI on Wednesday. Ikramullah Ranjha, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader, also followed.
Reham does not have an official position in the party but being the wife of the PTI chief she enjoys lots of respect among the workers and the leaders.
"Reham Khan is right because this is not a good trend. People should not quit parties at will", senior PTI leader Justice (r) Wajiuddin Ahmed said while talking to The Nation. "Like Reham Khan, I also don't endorse this culture.
The people should show loyalty with the parties. This will promote politics based on ideologies," he added.
Wajiuddin said although leaving a party is permissible, it should not be made a habit. "One can understand if a person quits a party over ideological differences but if the changing of loyalties is frequent, this will not improve the democratic culture," Wajiuddin opined.
He said the person quitting a party must have reasons to do so. "The party accepting him or her should also see if that person has a clean track record. We should not welcome people just for the sake of winning elections. After all democracy will not flourish like this."
The PTI leader said the politics of changing loyalties should be buried for good. "In case of the PPP we must keep in mind that their workers are disappointed. Their decision to join the PTI may be justified as they want to secure their political future", he remarked.
"I think changing parties is a serious issue and must be taken as such. We must not accommodate people who contest every election on different (party) ticket", he contended.
Shafqat Mehmood, a PTI lawmaker, defended the inclusion of the PPP and the PML-N dissidents in the party. "Our party is expanding. Now where do we bring the people from? We have to look for people from within Pakistan", he said.
Shafqat said the PTI has gained in Punjab and will defeat the PML-N in the upcoming Local Government (LG) elections. "We are ready to give them a tough fight. We will defeat them and bring a change", he asserted.
The PTI leader said he did not know much about Reham Khan's statement against changing loyalties. "I don't know about her statement but we cannot say no to people who want to join the PTI", he added.
On Friday, there were rumours that PPP leader Hina Rabbani Khar, a former foreign minister, was set to join the PTI along with her family. However, senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi denied these reports.
Sources said that during the recent party meetings, Qureshi and Jehangir Tareen had advised Imran Khan to accept dissidents from other parties before the LG polls in Punjab while several PTI leaders had opposed the idea.
Former minister Samsam Bukhari said he quit the PPP as it was increasingly becoming a B-team of the PML-N. He claimed that PPP and PML-N dissidents were forming a new party to be led by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
"They offered me to join the new party but I did not become part of that conspiracy. Instead, I decided to join another party", he said.
PPP meanwhile is gearing up to start a fresh membership drive in Punjab as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari prepares to revive the party in the most populous province that used to be its stronghold.