HYDERABAD, Oct 15: PPP Sindh council member Usman Kennedy has criticised the local organisation of the party for alienating Urdu-speaking people of Hyderabad and Latifabad and said that because of it only Urdu-speaking were elected as members of the provincial and national assemblies from Latifabad and Hyderabad talukas and Sindhi-speaking candidates from Qasimabad and Tandojam during the last 30 years.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Wednesday, he said that it spoke volumes about the inefficiency and cowardice of the local leadership of the party which had made no inroads in Latifabad and Hyderabad talukas.

Since the local leadership of the party had its own vested interests, it had never even tried to gain the confidence of the Urdu-speaking people, he alleged and said that the PPP did not even exist in Latifabad and Hyderabad.

He said that it was heartening to note that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had directed Sindh Chief Minister Syed

Qaim Ali Shah and Nafees Siddiqui to reorganise the party in Sindh.

He alleged that the local leadership of the party was corrupt to the core and only tried to hoodwink the leadership by raising the slogans of Jeay Bhutto and Jeay Benazir.

He alleged that the local leadership had earned tens of millions of rupees by selling jobs in the education department.

He said that there was only one Urdu-speaking office-bearer in Hyderabad and Latifabad and that was the reason that the Urdu-speaking people considered the PPP as the party of Sindhis.

He said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto at a party convention in Hyderabad in 1974 had said that efforts should be made to muster the support of the local population but it had not been done.

He said that in the February 2008 elections, party ticket was not given to him but to an “opportunist,” who even did not have a house in his constituency.

Mr Kennedy said that division of Hyderabad district into four districts had become a fait accompli and even the PPP leadership of the four districts had willingly accepted the division.

He said that to muster the support of Urdu-speaking people from organisational point of view, Hyderabad district should be divided into two parts -- Hyderabad and Latifabad and Qasimabad and Tandojam -- to reorganise and strengthen the party.

He said that 60 per cent of posts in the organisational setup should be given on the basis of population. In this way, the Urdu- speaking people would be attracted to the PPP, he said.