FAISALABAD: A group of over 30 city council chairmen from the PML-N have announced that they will not support State Minister for Finance Rana Afzal if the party fielded him again for NA-110.

Majority of the chairmen who raised their voice against Afzal belong to the group of Malik Razzaq, the city mayor, whose brother and MPA Malik Nawaz is eager to contest from the constituency.

On the other hand, opposition leader in the city council Sheraz Kahloon and his group were in favour of Rana Afzal, claiming his services for the party and constituency were beyond doubt.

In the last three general elections the PML-N had clinched NA-82, which was now re-numbered as NA-110 in the recent delimitation. Rana Afzal had won the last general elections by defeating PTI candidate Nisar Akbar by securing 126,349 votes against his runner-up’s 36,373 votes.

Malik Nawaz is associated with the Rana Sanaullah group and Rana Afzal with Sher Ali group. Sana and Sher Ali have been rivals for years and the PML-N leadership, including Sharif brothers, could not succeed to convince them to shun their differences.

Sana’s group had given a tough time to the Sher Ali group in the mayoral contest; the Ali group had fielded Kahloon and Razzaq from Sana’s group. Rana Afzal had also supported the Ali group.

Local political analysts say the mayor’s group was using the chairmen to press the party leadership for the ticket. The chairmen were ‘compelled to’ support Malik Nawaz whose brother could allegedly destroy the political future of any chairman by not issuing him development funds.

However, these chairmen could not dent the vote of any candidate as voters were vibrant and aware of politics and facts about candidates.

Kahloon said a number of chairmen who were opposing Rana Afzal had been loyal to various parties, including the PML-Q and PPP. He said however Afzal remained loyal to the PML-N during its rainy days when retired Gen Pervez Musharraf had toppled the party’s government in a coup.

He further claimed that Afzal was the best choice for the party in NA-110 as other candidates would watch their personal interests only and not serve the party.

On the contrary, Afzal’s rivals said he had watched his personal gains rather than serving the workers or the party. He would be opposed at any level even if the party awarded him a ticket, they stated.

Rana Ayub Aslam, a rival chairman of Rana Afzal, claimed they had formed a group of 36 chairmen who would oppose Afzal at all levels. He said soon a workers convention would be organised against Afzal.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2018