Rift laid bare at PML-N workers' convention in Gujrat.

GUJRAT -- The workers' convention of the PML-N Gujrat chapter has exposed rift in the party as some former lawmakers, ticket holders and the old guard did not attend the event at Ajnala on Wednesday.

PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal, Additional Secretary-General Ataullah Tarrar, also an adviser to the prime minister, and MNA Abid Kotla attended the convention organised by the Gujrat chapter at the place of PML-N district president Tahirul Mulk. The convention was held in the area of NA-68 and PP-28 but neither the party's ticket holders in the last general election (2018) from both these seats, including Nawabzada Ghazanfar Ali Gull, a former MNA, and Nawabzada Haider Mehdi, a former MPA, nor Nawabzada Mazhar Ali Khan, the party's former MNA (2013-18) who is the head of the Nawabzada family, attended the event.

Moreover, the group of party's diehard workers from Gujrat city, led by Haji Nasir Mehmood, a former mayor of Gujrat Municipal Corporation, and ex-MPA Haji Imran Zafar was conspicuous by absence. Another former minister of state, Jaafar Iqbal Fatta Bhand (ex-MNA), from Lalamusa, was also absent from the party event.

Sources said the absence of key party figures was felt by senior leaders. Ahsan Iqbal asked a party lawmaker to address the issues relating to the internal differences, they said. They said Haji Nasir group was annoyed with the district and divisional leadership for not consulting the former mayor in the matters relating to the local party affairs, especially the convention.

GUJRAT: The workers'...