KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah today announced the PPP’s intent to hold a rally in Karachi’s Lyari district on April 26.

At a press conference, Shah said former president Asif Ali Zardari is also expected at the rally, which will be held in Lyari's Kakri Ground.

He said Lyari is one of the more underdeveloped areas in Karachi, and spoke about how the PPP government in Sindh is developing schools and streets in the settlement.

Read more: PPP rift: Pushed in, left out

The announcement to hold the public gathering comes at the heels of speculations that there are internal rifts within PPP ranks. While the party leadership has repeatedly denied an estrangement between its chairpersons Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto, it has been made clear that Bilawal is going to take a back seat in what was earlier dubbed his political flight.

“There are no differences between myself and my father. I am committed to the party’s ideals and goals, and will work with him to reinvigorate the party and its message for a changing Pakistan. I will be on the party’s political frontline when the time is right,” PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted the young party chairman as saying after the meeting.

Read: Bilawal to enter politics gradually, says Zardari

The spokesman said the meeting should quell speculations in a section of the media about Bilawal Bhutto Zardari being sidelined.

“The current security environment in Pakistan is difficult for a Bhutto to openly operate, and it has been decided that Mr Bilawal will be working at the overseas PPP chapter,” the spokesman said.

Bilawal's sudden absence at party meetings was felt after the young Bhutto scion was vocal and active on social media in his criticism of political opponents and toeing of the party line.

Last year in November, the reported leak of an inquiry report over the mismanagement of the drought situation in Tharparkar district exposed the internal rifts and lack of coordination within the different tiers of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the provincial government.

According to senior party leaders, the situation worsened when Bilawal issued show-cause notices to PPP Sindh president and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Manzoor Wassan over the mishandling of the situation in Thar.

Officials in the provincial government also said it came as a shock to them when the news of Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s show-cause notices flashed on TV channels putting the Sindh government in an awkward position.

“All this shows lack of coordination between the party and the government,” said the official. “It also indicates the overlapping of the party and the government.”

With a strong vote-bank like Sindh being in disarray, things are also not looking good for the party in Punjab, where workers are disgruntled that the party sided with the PML-N during teh protracted anti-government sit-ins launched by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) last year.