BAHAWALPUR: PML-N MNA Makhdoom Ali Hassan Gilani from Uch Sharif has joined the PPP.

He told Dawn by phone from Uch Sharif on Thursday that he had a meeting with PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi on Wednesday. He said he would be contesting from two constituencies -NA-173 and NA-174 -on the PPP ticket.

Refusal to release funds for the completion of Uch Sharif dual carriageway from Lalloo di Moori by the Shahbaz government estranged Mr Gilani from the PML-N. There had been reports that Mr Gilani would join the Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf (PTI). On April 14, Mr Gilani along with MNAs Najeebuddin Owaisi and Mian Riaz Husain Peerzada did not attend a function, chaired by former prime minister Shahid Khagan Abbasi, to inaugurate a bridge connecting Uch Sharif with Jalalpur Peerwala in Multan district.

After that Mr Gilani began to weigh different options to join another party. He remained in touch with the PTI but after Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi joined the PTI, Mr Gilani`s chance to get a PTI ticket for NA-174 turned bleak.As now after Gilani`s parting ways with PML-N, PML-N MPA Sardar Khalid Warren has announced contesting for the seat and applied for PML-N ticket.

Another PML-N ticket aspirant from this constituency may be Hassan Askari Sheikh, who in 2013 left the PPP at the behest of Mr Gilani.

Mr Sheikh lost the election to Makhdoom Iftikhar Ahmed Gilani, who was elected from the Nawab`s BNAP`s platform.

Now, Iftikhar Gilani (from Uch Sharif) has also recently joined the PTL NO WATER: The Pakistan Kissan Board (PKB) has threatened to begin protest if irrigation water is not released to canals of Cholistan green belts by Sunday (June 2).

PKB Senior Vice-Chairman Jam Hazoor Baksh said farmers from Cholistan and other areas would launch gherao of the irrigation offices in case the water was not released.

He said the Dahri canal had been closed for the last three months and the people were without even drinking water in the areas. He said that the irrigation department had also not released 250 cusecs of canal water to the Cholistani canals.