Chief Minister Balochistan Quddus Bizenjo has said that he will announce the formation of a new political party in a press conference today (Thursday).
Geo News reported that 32 other members of the Balochistan Assembly will be part of the new party.
Bizenjo, who secured only 544 votes in a constituency of 57,666 voters in the 2013 elections, suddenly burst into Balochistan’s political scene in January this year when he was elected as chief minister. He was also on the forefront of the maneuvering of the recent Senate elections. His opponents say that the military establishment, which runs affairs in the Balochistan province, is behind his unexpected rise.
Sources told Balochistan Times all the Balochistan politicians favoured by the military establishment are likely to join the new party. Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi and Jan Mohammad Jamali are expected to lead the party.
“The army wants all its blue-eyed boys from Balochistan on one platform. PML-Q as lost its value. It’s time for new party in Balochistan,” said a source in the Balochistan government.
Bizenjo resigned from the PML-Q earlier this week during a meeting with the party’s chief Chaudhry Shujaat in Islamabad. Daily Times reported the PML-Q leadership was on the same page with Bizenjo on the formation of the new party.
Jam Kamal Khan, Senator Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, Mir Saleem Khosa, Sardar Mohammed Saleh Bhootani, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, Ayaz Mandokhel, Shoaib Nosherwani, Mohammed Khan Lehri, Mir Ghafoor Lehri, Tahir Mehmood, Mir Attaullah Buledi and Shahzad Saleh Bhootani are expected to join the new party among others.
Although Bizenjo claimed last Friday that the new party would be called National Democratic Alliance, the source said no consensus had been reached to this effect. “It’s most likely they will end up with a different name.”
