Top PML-N leaders dejected over getting ignored in SAPM appointments

ISLAMABAD: Top Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have expressed their resentment over not being accommodated as special assistant to prime minister (SAPM) after the prime minister notified four new SAPMs today, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details, four PML-N lawmakers including Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, Sheikh Fayyaz Ud Din, Romina Khurshid Alam, Hafiz Abdul Kareem were appointed by the prime minister as SAPMs.

The appointments irked top PML-N leaders Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, Muhammad Zubair and Talal Chaudhry.

The estranged leaders said that they were disappointed with the attitude of party leadership and asked what services have been rendered by those who have been appointed as special assistants today.

“Did they appear alongside party leaders during their hearings in the courts,” they asked.

The PML-N has faced criticism from the party with recently over favouring those who had not supported the party duirng its testing times.

Recently, the PML-N has faced backlash from within the party over the plan to award party tickets to dissident PTI MPAs in Punjab Assembly who were de-seated for voting in favour of Hamza Shahbaz during the election for chief minister Punjab.

According to sources within PML-N, the local party leadership in the constituencies are not ready to accept dissident PTI lawmakers as their candidates. “PML-N has faced a severe backlash from local party leaders and therefore, some of them will be contesting elections as independent candidates,” they said.

The sources further shared that the the party will not field its candidate against the dissident lawmakers. “If PML-N awards party tickets to dissident MPAs then it might result in divisions with the ranks besides also chances of defeat for the candidate,” they said.

Asad Khokhar, Nouman Langrial, Ghulam Rasool, Ajmal Cheema, Lala Tahir Randhawa, Salman Naeem, and Nazir Chohan will contest by-polls scheduled in July as independent candidates.

The sources said that the party would award tickets to any candidate who wanted it and will not leave those who supported them in a difficult time.