More than a week after the July 25 polls which put the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in a position to form the government in the centre as well as in at least one province, the Imran Khan-led party has not finalised appointments of key posts.
Although the party has been actively wooing independent candidates at the national and provincial level, and is in talks with multiple parties regarding coalitions to form governments in the centre and the provinces, there has been no decision regarding appointments for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief ministers as well as speakers for the respective assemblies.
Names have been doing the rounds for possible candidates for the post of chief ministers of Punjab and KP and party leaders have repeatedly said they will announce the names for the two posts soon. However, there is yet to be an announcement in this regard.
The names for speakers of the assemblies have not been announced either.
At this point, the only appointment known for certain is that of Imran Khan as the 20th prime minister of Pakistan — depending on whether the party can muster the required numbers in the National Assembly.
Earlier today, PTI KP leader Shaukat Yousafzai claimed that the party will announce the name of the provincial chief minister within the next 48 hours.
Rejecting reports of a rift within the party which led to the delay in the announcement, Yousafzai said, “Imran Khan wants to make decisions after consultations and whoever he nominates will be accepted by everyone.”
The PTI had earlier fielded the name of former provincial minister Atif Khan for the post. However, his name could not be finalised as former KP CM Pervez Khattak was reportedly adamant to keep the post, sources had said.
Similarly in Punjab, names have been circulating of party members for the post but no final decision has surfaced.
Earlier it was reported that party leader Aleem Khan would be made Punjab chief minister. However, sources said that he had been sidelined owing to an ongoing National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation against him.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s name was also circulating for the post.
Meanwhile, the party’s Balochistan leaders expressed their displeasure over central leader Jahangir Tareen naming Balochistan Awami Party’s Jam Kamal as the next chief minister of Balochistan.
Sources said that the PTI’s Balochistan wing is unhappy with the steps taken by Tareen, adding that party chief Imran later resolved the issue during a meeting between PTI and BAP leaders.
Names have also been doing rounds of possible federal cabinet members and candidates for speakers of the provincial assemblies as well as the National Assembly, however, nothing is final on that front either.
PTI officially bagged 115 general seats of NA in the 2018 General Election.
However, the party spokesperson claimed that the number of MNAs-elect belonging to or supporting the PTI had reached over 137 with the support of independents and allied parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).