‘Bushra Bibi got Gandapur removed as PTI’s KP president’

Days after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja claimed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Ali Amin Gandapur voluntarily stepped down as the party’s KP president, prominent journalist Fakhar Durrani has claimed it was former first lady Bushra Bibi who got him sacked.

Last week, the PTI on founder Imran Khan’s advice replaced Gandapur with Member National Assembly (MNA) Junaid Akbar Khan as the party president for KP. Amid speculations surrounding the sudden change on what is deemed to be a key position within the PTI, Durrani, in a video on his YouTube channel, claimed it was the result of a spat between the KP CM and Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi.

He claimed that the spat between the two PTI leaders took place in Mansehra after the party’s failed march on Islamabad on November 26.

“Both stayed at Babar Saleem Sawati’s house in Mansehra where Bushra Bibi allegedly threatened to remove Gandapur from his positions within the party,” the journalist said while referring to when Bushra and Gandapur ditched party workers in the midst of a crackdown in the federal capital.

The two had then travelled to Mansehra in KP, where the PTI is in power. Reports had claimed that CM Gandapur wanted to relocate the party’s demonstration in line with an unofficial agreement with the government whereas Bushra wanted supporters to continue marching on the capital to press for her husband’s release from jail.

The rift had also made headlines last week when it was claimed that Gandapur played a pivotal role in securing the prison sentence for Bushra in the Al-Qadir Trust case. Senior journalist and analyst Dr Moeed Pirzada had alleged ‘foul play’ at the hands of the KP CM, saying that Bushra’s conviction caught Khan off guard as he had been assured relief for his wife.

“[…] Gandapur wanted her to get locked up… away from limelight, because she was causing him headaches,” he had said, claiming that the KP CM used his influence to make it happen.

While there has been no official confirmation on the reported rift between Bushra and Gandapur, PTI Secretary General Raja maintained that the KP CM’s departure from the role of provincial party president was voluntary, allowing him to focus on his responsibilities as CM amid pressing challenges such as law and order. 

“This decision aligns with Gandapur’s request, as he wanted to dedicate himself entirely to the governance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Raja said, noting that Gandapur had a lot of responsibilities as the chief executive of the province.

It merits a mention CM Gandapur was succeeded by Junaid Akbar who was also recently elected chairman of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) unopposed, filling a position left vacant since the general elections in February 2024.

After being appointed as PTI’s KP president, Akbar issued a statement on X, expressing gratitude. “I am a middle-class person and I got this position because of hard work. Which is not found in other parties [sic],” he wrote.