ISLAMABAD - The much-hyped visit of PPP’s patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to Punjab has been deferred by the party leadership and there is no indication whether he would visit the province this year or not.
Bilawal, who is abroad these days, thrice rescheduled his visit to Punjab for several reasons, has still no proper plan to visit this province for ‘re-organization’ of the PPP, The Nation has learnt reliably.
Sources said Bilawal upon his return from abroad expectedly after Eid-ul-Fitr would not rush for the party’s restructuring in Punjab, where the party had failed to win not even a single seat in the 2013 elections.
Bilawal in the month of January was earlier scheduled to undertake tour of nearly ten Punjab divisions to have direct interaction with the local leadership to know the reasons behind failure in the elections in the area.
He was reportedly interested to induct fresh recruits to the party during the proposed ‘re-organisation’ of the PPP; however, some saner elements are still advising him to keep a blend of experienced and new members in the party.
The sources said the party’s influential elements had advised him to postpone the visit as it might create further confusion and disintegration in the party.
Later, Bilawal had twice postponed his visit to Punjab due to some security reasons as he had claimed that he received threats from the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Following these threats, PPP Punjab had also written to the Punjab government for adequate security for upcoming visit of former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to Lahore
The arrangements for the arrival and stay of Bilawal in Punjab had almost given final touches to avoid any untoward situation but at the eleventh hour he deferred his visit to Punjab.
When contacted, Fawad Chaudhary, the media adviser of Bilawal, said that his visit to Punjab has thrice been postponed for several reasons. “There is no proper schedule for his visit to Punjab. It would be clear upon his return to Pakistan,” he added.
Talking to The Nation, Secretary General PPP Latif Khosa said that Bilawal’s visit to Punjab has still not scheduled. “Let the dust settle down,” he said adding that the party would consider its restructuring in Punjab after the completion of military operation ‘Zarb-e-Azab’ and PTI’s Azadi march.