KARACHI - Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) member Sindh Assembly Malik Shehzad Awan Saturday said they were planning to stage a protest outside the residence of Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda for turning his back to his constituency.

“A meeting of senior members of the party in Baldia Town will be held on Sunday to decide the future course of action which will also be mulling over to stage a protest outside Vawda residence,” a transporter by profession, Awan said without mentioning when it would be taking place.

It is pertinent to mention here that both Malik Shehzad Awan and Federal Minister Faisal Vawda hails from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and are elected from provincial (PS-116) and national assembly (NA-249) constituencies in Baldia Town.   

Awan while talking to The Nation said that Vawda is elected from Baldia area and should be focusing on the betterment of the area that is already neglected by the previous governments.

“It is due to people in the constituency that he has become a member of the national assembly with a narrow margin and is now elevated to a federal minister post,” he said.

The provincial lawmaker blamed that the minister completely neglected the area and visited the constituency once in a blue moon after the election. “The people who have voted for us have high hopes on PTI and his attitude is ruining the party prospects in the constituency,” he said.

“I do not have any personal grudges against him and has a very good relationship but only doing this for my constituents,” he said adding that he had also conveyed his grievances to Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, who also asked the federal minister to pay attention on the welfare of his constituents.

Baldia Town is the most underprivileged area of the city facing water, sanitation, road repair, drugs and various other issues and we want our elected representative and member of the party who holds such a high position in the government to play his role for betterment of the people in the constituency, concluded Awan.     

Faisal Vawda on Monday also held a meeting of members of party from Baldia Town, which was not attended by the provincial lawmaker in protest of neglecting the constituency.

“Why a member elected from Baldia is holding meeting of party activists of the area in Clifton at his residence,” asked Shehzad Awan and said that although he boycotted the meeting, he allowed other members and his close associates to participate in it as he was not against the minister but his acts of neglecting constituency.

Faisal Vawda and other PTI leaders were also reached out for their comment on the issue but did not respond despite repeated attempts till filing of this report.

The federal minister, however, announced holding a presser on Sunday afternoon at his residence.