Abbasi says, "will go to home if Maryam awarded party Presidency"

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has again said that he would quit if Maryam awarded the party’s presidency.

In an interview to a television, Abbasi said that his leader is Nawaz Sharif, if Maryam Nawaz elevated to the PML-N’s top office, he will consider remaining in the party’s fold or not.

“I was named the senior vice president of the PML-N when Shehbaz Sharif was arrested in year 2019,” Shahid Khaqan said. “When Maryam was given the leadership position and elevated to the Chief Organizer’s position, I had tendered my resignation at that time from the party office to the PML-N president,” he said. “I could not work further on the party’s office, I told.”

Former prime minister said that “tolerance is two-way process not one-sided”. “I have quit the party’s post to avoid likely discord with Maryam Nawaz,” he further said.

“I have long-time relations and friendship with Nawaz Sharif, he is my leader, and this relation could not be bonded with Maryam,” Shahid Khaqan said. “I am her uncle, Benazir Bhutto had also did not allow her uncles in party,” he added.

Replying a question he said, he will consider remaining in the party or not when Maryam Nawaz will be elevated to the president’s office of the PML-N.

Responding a question to join another party with a straightforward ‘No’ he said if he had to quit the PML-N he will return to his home as “I have no other home except it”.

It is pertinent to mention here that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a party stalwart, had not attended the PML-N workers convention, recently held in Islamabad.

“He was formally invited to attend the workers convention, but he opted not to participate in the event,” sources said. The gesture exposes widening gulf within the PML-N leadership.

Maryam Nawaz and other party leaders had addressed the PML-N workers convention.