GUJRAT, Oct 21: The local chapter of the Pakistan People’s Party has finally started preparations for the upcoming local body elections to join other political parties in the race.

The first gathering of PPP workers was held on Monday at the Pagganwala House, the traditional bastion of the jiyalas in Gujrat, after the party’s defeat in the May general election where former federal minister and PPP stalwart Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar appeared for interacting with his staunch supporters after a gap of five months.

Although the gathering lacked the traditional spirit of jiyalaism (enthusiasm), most of party workers showed their willingness to launch a fresh struggle for the party success or at least for their own political survival at the local level by offering a stiff resistance to the ruling PML-N in the local body polls.

Most of the speakers vowed to make a strong come back in the LG polls to prove that the PPP had been defeated through rigging in the last general elections and urged Ahmed Mukhtar and the Pagganwala family to lead them with a unity of command.

They were of the opinion that the PPP had suffered badly due to differences among the local leadership and it was the need of the hour to forge unity among party ranks to give strength to workers to take on other political forces.

They reposed confidence in the leadership of Ahmed Mukhtar and also asked him to set up his political office in Gujrat if he wanted to continue with the politics in NA-105.

Ahmed Mukhtar, who had earlier reportedly been complaining of some kind of betrayal by party workers during his election campaign, also seemed quite satisfied with the presence of old and young party workers at the gathering.

Speaking to participants, Mr Mukhtar assured party workers of his complete backing in the LG polls and vowed to continue opposing the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q and other political rivals.

He asked party workers to get ready for LG polls and forge unity among them. He said the last general election had been rigged as large scale irregularities had been surfacing which was a great injustice with the people of Pakistan.

Mr Mukhtar said the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q had spent Rs2 billion on their election campaign which could only bring victory to Pervaiz Elahi and his scion Moonis Elahi.

He criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for breaching electoral pledges of getting rid of a begging bowl as the PML-N government was seeking loans and financial aid from everywhere across the globe whereas Shahbaz Sharif had also backed out of his slogans of eliminating the power load-shedding within six months.

He said even Nawaz Sharif had to say that his brother Shahbaz Sharif was known for making emotional statements as no time period could be given to end the energy crisis.

Mr Mukhtar said he would soon meet party leader Asif Ali Zardari and Punjab office bearers to discuss a strategy on LG polls, adding that he would make it clear to the leadership that the PPP would make decisions in accordance with local political scenarios in Gujrat.

Talking to Dawn, Ahmed Mukhtar said his interest in the LG elections was limited only to his NA-105 constituency and hinted at supporting the rival group of the Chaudhrys for the Gujrat district council’s chairmanship.

The Nawabzada family, once a part of the PPP and now in the ruling PML-N, has been the traditional rivals of the Chaudhrys in the politics of district council for the last three decades.

Political analysts believe that local PPP groups, such as, Ahmed Mukhtar, Pagganwala and Kaira, will align with the Nawabzada group at the district level against the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q in case of non-party based LG elections.

However, they said such an alliance of local PPP ranks with the PML-N could not be an easy task in case of a party-based election.