Imran gears up for Pakistan elections, admits to grouping in his party

Islamabad: In the run-up to the General Elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that his party is ready to adjust seats with other political parties in order to defeat Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). In an interview to Geo News, he was quoted as saying – “We have to defeat Nawaz-league in this match.”
Khan also admitted that different groups did exist within his party and that Jahangir Tareen and Shah Mehmood Qureshi had their groups within PTI. But, he maintained that the tension between them was reducing.
Khan also said that his party’s manifesto was ready and would be issued between July 3 and 5.
Talking about PML-N, he said that the Sharif brothers either attacked Shaukat Khanum hospital or his ‘personal life’ and alleged that they and former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, were behind ‘the book’. Khan’s comments are an apparent reference to a forthcoming book authored by his former wife Reham Khan.
Reham had hit headlines after the manuscript of her book was leaked online, which irked several PTI leaders who took to Twitter to accuse her of being part of an ‘agenda’ ahead of the July 25 elections.
At the same time, the PTI chief said that if voted to power they would not issue development funds to members of the national and provincial assemblies as it promoted corruption.
Khan and Pakistan People`s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari filed their nomination papers on Friday. Bilawal is contesting from two assembly seats namely Karachi’s Lyari and Larkana, while Khan has filed his nomination from NA-243 in Karachi east district.
Earlier, Imran had said that all tickets hade been decided on merit adding that it was impossible to accommodate all the interested people. He had further reiterated his pre-poll promise of creating ‘naya Pakistan’ (New Pakistan).