GUJRANWALA: The PML-N central leadership has asked the local party cadres to get united and support Gujranwala Corporation Mayor Sheikh Sarwat Ikram if the opposition brings a no-confidence motion against him.

Mr Ikram had been elected as corporation mayor following the last local government elections on PML-N ticket but following the change of governments in centre and province after 2018 general election, as many as 60 union council chairmen switched over to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Encouraged by the change in numbers, the corporation opposition leader Yahya Butt of the PTI announced that he would soon bring a no-confidence move against the PML-N mayor.

Alarmed by the situation, the sources said, the PML-N central leadership called a meeting where they admonished the local leadership for failing to retain the numerical strength in the house.

The sources said that PML-N MPA from PP-54 Imran Khalid Butt had been assigned the task to save the party mayor in case of a no-confidence move brought by PTI members as the party could not afford to lose the position in the present political scenario ahead of the by-election.

Commenting on the situation, Deputy Mayor Salman Khalid Butt claimed that all the chairmen of the PML-N were supporting Mr Ikram, and those planning to bring a no-confidence move against the mayor were living in a fool’s paradise.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019