Key GDA leader Ali Gohar Mahar rejoins PPP
Newswire
Hyderabad: While a proposed anti-Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) alliance is at its formative stage, PPP appears to have given an unpleasant surprise to the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl that had announced to come up with a strong anti-PPP force in the upcoming general elections.
The PPP is said to have wooed Ali Gohar Mahar, the GDA lawmaker from Ghotki in the outgoing Sindh Assembly.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah had been instrumental in bringing him back to PPP’s fold. “With his return to PPP, we are now quite comfortable not only in Ghotki, but in Sukkur as well,” said Shah, an influential PPP leader in Sindh.
Despite being a PPP MPA, Nawaz stood with his brother Ali Gohar, when the latter developed some differences with PPP. “We will now win three seats in Ghotki. Ali Gohar will contest on one NA seat and I and Mohammad Bux Khan Mahar on two Sindh Assembly seats.” he said.
Ghous Bux Mahar, another leading light of GDA from Naushahro Feroz, has also joined PPP on the party’s commitment for ticket allocation in the district on provincial seats.
Nasir Shah revealed that “talks [with Ali Gohar] had been under way for quite some time and this [achievement] is going to cast a big impact [on elections] in Ghotki and certain other areas. We are receiving requests from more
Ali Gohar had contested polls against PPP and had opposed his cousin, Sardar Mohammad Bux Mahar, as the tribal chief when the latter donned the mantle.
Sardar Mahar was elected as MNA from Ghotki in a by-election held after the death of his cousin, Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar (a former Sindh chief minister) on May 21, 2019.
Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar had won the seat as an independent candidate but he then joined the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and became federal minister for narcotics control.
Mohammad Bux Mahar had defeated late Ali Mahar’s son Ahmed Ali Mahar in a by-poll on one of two NA seats of this upper Sindh district bordering Punjab.
Nasir Shah appeared unimpressed by GDA and JUI-F leaders’ claim that the two parties alliance would become a potent force in Sindh to challenge PPP. “We will give them a surprise in Karachi, too,” he said.
