Ex-PTI members meet as 'minus Imran' work begins
In a new initiative, a group of ex-PTI members led by Fawad Chaudhry met Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Adiala Jail to convince the party's vice chairman to desert Imran Khan.
However, the meeting, which was held on Wednesday and attended by former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, Aamer Kiani, and Mehmoud Moulvi, failed to achieve its objective, as reported by Dawn.
The PTI leader's son Zain Qureshi Tweeted, "Makhdoom sahib is the vice chairman of the party and is the name of an ideology. We stand with the ideology of Tehreek-i-Insaf and Imran Khan. He [Shah Mehmood] has only done politics of principles and service, not position and greed".
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"He was with Imran Khan yesterday and today," Dawn reported Qureshi as saying.
Earlier, it was announced by Imran Khan that Qureshi would lead the party in case he is arrested or disqualified.
The PTI defectors accused the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government for the prevailing political and financial instability of the country, says Dawn.
Chaudhry revealed that he believes the 250 million people of Pakistan cannot be left at the mercy of Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
"We have to move towards a stable solution," he added, without elaborating.
According to reports, his remarks come amid speculation about the launch of a new political party in the country, mostly comprising PTI defectors.
Chaudhry added, "We had a detailed meeting with Asad Umar, and also contacted Asad Qaiser, Farrukh Habib, Shahzad Wasim, Ali Zaidi, Hammad Azhar, Pervez Khattak and other leaders."
However, he did not mention what objective the group wanted to achieve by these efforts but the grapevine is abuzz with rumours that they are working on a 'minus Imran' formula.
However, Asad Qaiser in a post on social media denied any contact with Chaudhry.
Farrukh Habib also tweeted, "No politics without Imran khan!"
According to PTI's Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, rumours of negotiations with PTI are being spread by some people who have already left the party
He claimed that a committee has already been constituted to negotiate with the permission of Imran Khan.
