ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that the governing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will campaign fervently in Punjab’s local government elections, instructing his leaders to go all out to solidify the party’s hold on the province.
While chairing a meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the premier resolved to hurry things up and mobilise people at the grassroots level. He warned the party’s leadership to prepare for a tense period leading up to the local body elections.
Pakistan’s citizens have “no better option than the PTI,” Prime Minister Imran Khan remarked. According to sources, the group also evaluated recommendations for mayors in important cities and discussed the distribution of tickets during the elections.
PM Imran ripped into the ruling party’s political enemies, deploring that the “corrupt gang” was pursuing politics of “personal interests,” in response to the opposition’s increased concerted efforts to topple the ruling party.
PM Imran’s directives appear to have come after the PTI lost the first phase of local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) (K-P).
The PM also blamed the party’s loss in the LG polls on the wrong candidates being chosen, expressing hope that PTI will come back strong in the second round.
Fawad Chaudhry, the Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting, stated at a press conference that the premier has constituted a 21-member committee comprised of senior party leaders and tasked it with reorganising and developing a new party constitution.
It was decided at the time that the committee would design a system for granting tickets to candidates, but that the premier would have final approval.
PM said at Monday’s CEC meeting that the party’s organisational structure needed to be organised for the LG polls, and that workers were the party’s most significant asset.
In the meeting, he reiterated that in the Punjab LG elections, tickets will be awarded on the basis of merit, and that PTI officials will not be pitted against one another, as they were in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
“PTI is a popular party in the country,” a party spokesman quoted PM as saying. “It will join the field with full might, and people have no better option than PTI.” Apart from LG polls, the person noted that the PM briefed the party leadership on his travel to China, with instructions to emphasise the visit’s success.
