Bowing to banned People's Aman Committee demand, PPP leadership finally nominated MNA Qadir Patel as President PPP Karachi Division and the Political Secretary to President Asif Ali Zardari after the resignation of Senator Faisal Raza Abidi from both positions.
Sources familiar with this development told Business Recorder on Tuesday that Senator Faisal Raza Abidi has not resigned but he has been removed due to complaints against him. Following the removal of Najmi Alam and Saeed Ghani, PPP had made Faisal Raza Abidi President and Mir Ismail Brohi Secretary General PPP Karachi division in November 2011.
Newly-nominated President Qadir Patel is an elected MNA from NA-239 Karachi-I. He was born in Lyari in 1968, and has close-relations with the leadership of banned People's Aman Committee (PAC). Qadir Patel is also Chairman NA Standing Committee on Interior.
Sources disclosed that Fasial Raza Abidi had somehow managed to get overwhelming reception in Karachi on acquiring new position in party but he could not perform well as per expectations of party high-ups and workers. PPP Karachi division spokesperson, Kausar Amir said that Faisal Abidi has resigned because of health reasons and has been admitted to the hospital.
Sources within the party said that the local leadership had made many complaints against him for being "inattentive" and had not been giving time to party workers. Abidi had contested elections in 2008 from NA-253 Karachi against MQM's Haider Abbas Rizvi. He had been nominated President of PPP's Karachi Division a year ago. He is a member of Central Executive Committee (CEC) of PPP since 2008.
A very senior member of PPP Karachi division told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that Faisal Raza Abidi was non-active President. He even didn't reach Karachi during the recent Lyari operation to sympathise with the Lyarites. He added that party has suffered a lot due to non-serious attitude of Faisal Raza Abidi towards the party workers in Karachi.
In this connection, former Secretary General PPP Karachi division Senator Saeed Ghani seeing this development as party policy and said that Patel's nomination as President would be positive for PPP in Karachi. Secretary General PPP Karachi Mir Ismail Brohi welcomed the appointment of Qadir Patel and refused to comment on Faisal Raza Abidi's matter. He hoped Qadir Patel would play vital role in strengthening party in Karachi.