Senior PTI leaders in KP disgruntled with CM Mahmood Khan: report

PESHAWAR: Differences between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and some of his cabinet members have deepened and Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken notice of the friction, reportedly asking both sides to show restraint, reported The News.

Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders told the publication on Thursday that certain people in the party have also taken notice of the differences and decided to constitute a jirga to resolve the issue before it damages the government and the party.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan was already aware of the cold war between the chief minister and some cabinet members as they had approached him on a number of times and discussed with him some issues related to government,” said a senior PTI leader who is close to the premier. 

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Pleading anonymity, the leader said the differences between the two groups deepened after the recent reshuffle in the provincial cabinet. “Some people in the cabinet were not happy with the changes made by the chief minister in their portfolios," the leader noted.

'CM Mahmood will have to improve if he wants to continue in office'

Another senior member of the PTI, while talking to The News, said that the conspiracies against the chief minister would not threaten his leadership in the province. "PM Imran is aware of the issues and asked the two groups to sit down and find a solution," the leader maintained. 

“What I know is that PM Imran is presently standing behind Mahmood Khan. But Mahmood Khan has to improve his performance and deliver if he wants to continue as chief minister in future,” said the PTI leader on condition of anonymity. 

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"The party chairman should have taken notice of the differences between the chief minister and senior party leaders before they came out in public and malign each other. The issue has hurt PM Imran and the senior leadership," another leader of the PTI told the publication. 

Sources close to the chief minister have reportedly said that the differences cropped up after Mahmood Khan refused to accommodate the recommendations of some PTI leaders while reshuffling the provincial cabinet, according to the report. 

“There would have been no issue had the chief minister adjusted their nominees in the cabinet. The chief minister used to hold them in high regard as he knew about their connections with PM Imran and status in the party,” said a PTI office-bearer close to the chief minister. 

'Don't have personal enmity with CM Mahmood'

Sources further said that KP CM Khan was already under pressure from National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur after the latter two asked the CM in vain to adjust their younger brothers in the cabinet.

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On the other hand, members of the so-called ‘forward bloc’ alleged that the chief minister had no role in the governance and was letting non-elected people make important decisions. “We don’t have personal enmity with Mahmood Khan or anybody else," a PTI leader said. 

"The reason we raised these issues is that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa trusted PM Imran and brought us into power but we failed to deliver,” said a member of the disgruntled group. “Since the chief minister is weak, he empowered non-elected people around him." 

"All important positions in different departments are for sale and it is an open secret,” the source alleged, further adding that to all this information had been shared with the party chairman. "We did not make the forward bloc to weaken the government," the source clarified.