KP government to accommodate party MPAs in committees

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will dole out various offices to those Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf/Sunni Ittehad Council (PTI/SIC) provincial lawmakers who were not taken in the cabinet and were feeling alienated.

The sources said that some party MPAs were interested in the cabinet positions but they were not accommodated in the provincial cabinet for varied reasons.

This left them disappointed and they started demanding different offices. The government decided to pacify them by giving them positions.

These members, the sources added, would be given positions of the district development advisory committees (DDACs) and assembly standing committees chairmanship along with parliamentary secretary positions.

The sources said the government had sought opinions from such members and they would be taken on different committees accordingly, keeping in view their wishes.

It was learnt that a total of eight parliamentary secretaries would be appointed.

There would be as many 36 standing committees whose chairmanship would be given to the party members.

The KP Assembly would have four standing committees – privilege, judicial, house and library and law reforms committees.

The remaining 32 standing committees would be formed for different departments and the party legislators named their heads.

Some of the PTI MPAs were not happy when they were not considered for the provincial cabinet but could not raise their voice publicly fearing that Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur would not release funds for their development projects.

There is also a competition going on among the PTI MPAs trying to get the lucrative position of chairmen of the DDACs.

When reached, Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif told The News that it was a routine procedure, saying there was nothing new or suspicious in the formation of the committees.

As you know PTI is the largest political party in the provincial assembly, therefore a majority of the PTI MPAs will be accommodated in the committees and chairpersons will be taken from them. Also, we will adjust the opposition members in the committees according to their proportion in the assembly,” Mohammad Ali Saif argued.

He said forming these committees was a constitutional requirement.

“Besides constituting standing committees in the assembly, different district committees will also be formed headed by the assembly members,” said the special assistant.