ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would be losing another old guard this Friday when party’s former president Punjab Imtiaz Safdar Warraich will formally quit the party, The Nation has learnt reliably.
The former state minister from Gujranwala has decided to quit the PPP and is likely to join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Well-placed sources told The Nation that Warraich was all set to join the PTI in the presence of Chairman Imran Khan and other senior leaders of the party.
In this regard Warraich and the PTI have discussed in detail and finalised all the matters and modalities, they said.
“A former senior leader of the PPP who had recently joined the PTI had convinced Warraich to join the PTI,” sources said.
During the PPP government, Warraich was given the portfolio of state minister and was also appointed as president of Punjab.
Warriach, while talking to The Nation confirmed that he would join the PTI on Friday at Bani Gala.
He avoided to pass any comment over the rift between the PPP and him, and said "It's a long story. Can't explain [it] on telephone."
Earlier, prominent PPP leaders including Noor Alam Khan, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Murtaza Satti and Firdous Ashiq Awan have jumped ship from the PPP in the last one and half month.
Former PPP leaders claimed that they left the party due to former president Asif Ali Zardari’s poor strategy and declared that "a corrupt mafia has hijacked PPP".
The PPP insiders said that Imtiaz Safdar had sidelined himself, and boycotted all party matters and was not attending any party events during the last three years.
A senior PPP leader said on the condition of anonymity that all big guns of the PPP from Punjab were almost ready to leave the party sooner or later due to Asif Zardari’s imposition of personal decisions on PPP Punjab leadership.
He said that the PPP Punjab officer bearers strongly recommend the name of Aslam Gill for the presidentship of the PPP Lahore chapter but Asif Zardari put aside the recommendations and issued notification in favour of Azizur Rehman.
The PPP leader said that now the party matters were out of control of Chairman Bilawal.
Meanwhile, PPP Information Secretary Chaudhry Manzoor said that Imtiaz Safdar never launched any complaint over the differences in the last two years and did not use any party forum to get his grievances addressed.
He said that "differences with leadership" was just an excuse to leave the party.
