PPP MP quits, joins PTI

Mumtaz Alvi

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peopleís Party received a fresh setback on Friday when one of its members of the Punjab Assembly from PP-18 (Pindi Gheb, Attock) quit as legislator and joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), charging that his party had taken a U-turn on its pledge to provide roti, kapra or makan to the masses. 
“With a heavy heart, I have to say that PPP is no more the party, once led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. This is reflected through its anti-people policies, which have forced the common man to commit suicide or sell his limbs to feed his family due to the over 150 per cent hike in goods rates and utility tariff,” Malik Khurram Ali said while speaking to The News here.
The prime minister’s desperate assurances to PPP MPAs in a recent meeting have failed to do their magic and even a commitment to release Rs70 million to each one of them could not avert what appeared to be the inevitable. It is said that more legislators will desert the PPP and become part of PTI very soon. 
Ali pointed out that even an illiterate person could see how massively his purchasing power had shrunk in the last four years, whereas the fortunes of the rulers had multiplied, as was indicated in media reports. 
“The government is least bothered to take measures to arrest the alarming trend of inflation,” Malik Khurram Ali maintained. This is the first time that a sitting lawmaker from district Attock has deserted his party and joined Imran Khan’s PTI. 
Asked what exactly motivated him to take the decision at this juncture, he said notables of his constituency asked him to take a fresh decision about his political future, as the present leadership and government had failed to bring any positive change in the life of the people. 
When reminded about a recent decision by the prime minister to give away Rs70 million to each PPP legislator of the Punjab Assembly, Khurram said keeping in view the backwardness of his constituency, the funds were too little and too late.