'Salman Raja, Shibli Faraz gave Imran Khan list of 23 lawmakers to expel them,' claims Fawad Ch

Former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, claimed on Friday that party head Imran Khan has been given a list of 23 Members of National Assembly (MNAs) and Senators, with the intention of getting them expelled from the party.

Appearing on a digital media outlet, Chaudhry claimed that during a recent meeting at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, party secretary General Salman Akram Raja and Leader of Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz gave Imran Khan a “23-name list of MNAs and Senators to expel them from the party.”

Commenting on the speculation of a potential forward bloc within PTI next month, Chaudhry said, “Speculations about a forward bloc began when inept individuals Salman Akram Raja and Shibli Faraz handed Imran Khan a list of 23 sitting MNAs and Senators.”

Chaudhry’s remarks came days after expelled Sher Afzal Marwat, in an interview with a private news outlet, claimed that a PTI forward bloc could emerge in the National Assembly and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly next month.

Marwat claimed that his ex-party wouldn’t be able to launch its proposed protest drive after Eid ul Fitr, advising PTI to accept PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s mediation offer for “face-saving".

However, dismissing the reports of a forward bloc emerging within the former ruling party, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, while in an interaction with a private media outlet on Thursday, called it “baseless speculations.”

The PTI chairman said, “No forward bloc is being formed within the PTI at the provincial or national assembly level,” adding that a difference of opinion does not mean that there is a forward bloc.

Fawad Chaudhry opined that it is a norm to insult the party members who stand with the party, adding, “unfortunately, this is a norm from top to bottom (in the party).”

Chaudhry questioned how an individual would stand by the party when sitting MNAs and Senators are being insulted.

He slammed PTI leadership for attempting to expel current party members. “If you get a chance to visit Adiala Jail and witness a meeting [between PTI leadership and Imran Khan], you will be taken aback that there is only one agenda: to prevent anyone from joining PTI and to find ways to remove those who are already in the party,” he alleged.