PTI gave Senate tickets to 'billionaires with no connection or service to party': Maryam
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz claimed on Monday that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had nominated individuals for the upcoming Senate elections who were "billionaires with no connection or service to the party", saying they had been given tickets to use their wealth for "buying votes" in the polls.
She was speaking to reporters at Jati Umra before her departure for Wazirabad where she will address a rally as part of the election campaign for PP-51 as announced by the PML-N on Twitter.
"PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif will lead a rally in Wazirabad tomorrow in connection with the by-elections. At the end of the rally, Maryam Nawaz Sharif will also address the participants." "You have given tickets to millionaires and billionaires who have no connection or service to the party, what does it mean then?" asked Maryam, adding the PTI wanted such individuals to buy votes through their resources and enter the Senate. "It is very important to block the path of such people."
She said members of the incumbent government "from every province have stood up" to protest the PTI's distribution of tickets for the Senate elections. She questioned whether Prime Minister Imran Khan could "not find one person in his 22 years of struggle" who had been beside him during that period and could have been nominated for the Senate. The PML-N leader added that she hoped "good people and political people with a history of political struggle" would come to the upper house. She said she was "proud" of the PMLN and party supremo Nawaz Sharif for nominating ordinary workers of the party who "are not millionaires or multi-billionaires. They are normal workers belonging to the middle class with a history of political struggle."
"The PML-N has fulfilled the right of the nation for real representation and Mian [Nawaz Sharif] sahib has not given a ticket to any billionaire or expert in buying and selling [of votes]. This is the real change."
In a statement issued earlier, PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb had also alleged that members of the PTI were in disagreement with the PMfor "selling tickets". She said this "revolt" of PTI members had laid bare the premier's campaign for open balloting. Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Information and Local Bodies Syed Nasir Hussain Shah made similar comments while speaking in Karachi. He said when the PTI gave tickets to "parachuters" instead of "senior visionary workers, well-wishers and supporters" then differences would emerge.
He said there was a similar situation across the four provinces with senior members and lawmakers of the PTI expressing their grievances over the Senate nominations. The PTI leadership in Islamabad had awarded a ticket to Abdul Qadir, a business tycoon affiliated with the construction industry, for contesting the Senate elections on a general seat from Balochistan. It soon had to withdraw the party ticket from him after strong opposition from the PTI provincial leadership and zonal heads.
The party high command decided to take back the ticket from Qadir and nominated Zahoor Agha for the election, Adviser to the Prime Minister Shahbaz Gill had confirmed on Saturday. The PTI's provincial spokesman for Balochistan, Asif Tareen, said the previous decision of the party had been taken in Islamabad without even consulting the Balochistan leadership of the party.
Regional PTI leaders had said the ticket had been awarded to a person who had nothing to do with the party. They had demanded an immediate withdrawal of the party ticket and an investigation to ascertain who had introduced Abdul Qadir to Prime Minister Imran and supported his name for a party ticket. Maryam said she hoped the opposition's 10-party PDM would remain intact even after "this government goes" and that it could devise a new charter to run the country.