LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardarion Friday appointed former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira as Central Punjab chapter president of the party and ex-MNA Nadeem Afzal Chan as the secretary general.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar was made information secretary.

Provincial and regional organizations of the party had already been dissolved since April on the direction of the chairperson, who desiredto bring in his hand-picl(ed team to improve stakes of the party in the next election.

The party`s coordination committee for Central Punjab met at the Bilawal House in Behria Town where the decisions were announced.

Belonging to Gujrat district, Kaira has earlier been serving as central information secretary of the party.

Kaira had exhibited his negotiating skills by successfully engaging Dr Tahirul Qadri during the 2013 sit-in of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek in Islamabad purportedlyfor electoral reforms when the PPP was in power.

Since his election on the PPP ticket as National Assembly member (MNA) in 2002 polls, he has unflinching affiliation with the party and is representing it, particularly in TV talk shows, more than any other leader from Punjab.

The exercise he undertook recently as member of the coordination committee formed by Bilawal for suggesting potential and most suitable candidates for the party`s Punjab leadership after consulting party ranks at district level, will help him developcoordination with grass-root worl(ers.

Interestingly, general secretary Chan comes from Mandi Bahauddin district, adjacent to Gujrat. Second prominent spokesperson for the party in Punjab, he was elected MNA in 2008. Earlier, he served as the Malakwal tehsil nazim.

The change in the central Punjab PPP set-up comes at a time when general elections are due after about a year. It will allow ample time to the new leaders to re-organise the party and regain some lost ground in Punjab.