PESHAWAR: After Punjab, Pakistan Peoples Party is likely to suffer a setback in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as some of its important provincial leaders are reportedly in contact with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to join the Imran Khan-led party.

According to sources, PPP’s former provincial president Syed Zahir Ali Shah and former women's wing president Asma Arbab Alamgir are currently in talks with the PTI leadership. They will then decide on whether to bid farewell to their decades old relation with the PPP.

Also read: Punjab PPP rocked by major defections

Zahir Shah met KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak to talk about his switch to PTI, but sources reveal that PPP’s former provincial chief is looking for a better deal — preferably the slot of provincial president.

Talking to Dawn.com Zahir Shah confirmed that KP chief minister did invite him to join PTI but he is yet to decide whether to accept his offer or not.

Zahir Shah, as a senior member of PPP, said he is very upset about the show cause notice issued to him.

The PPP’s former provincial president said he is not going to answer the show cause notice issued by PPP general secretary Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as he stood by his statements that the party needed a surgery and its provincial leadership must be changed.

Shah was served a show cause notice for issuing statements against the tripartite opposition alliance in KP.

Moreover, after her removal as president of PPP's women's wing, Asma Alamgir has also been mulling her options.

Earlier, PPP suffered a blow in Punjab when former minister of state Sumsam Bokhari along with a group of senior party members from Okara shifted their allegiance to PTI.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said PTI was gaining popularity each passing day, adding that all those who share the party's vision will be accommodated. "There will be no distinction between old and new members, all those on board the party's manifesto will be treated as equals," said the PTI leader.