PESHAWAR: A former union council nazim and local leader of Awami National Party-Wali, Peshawar, Irshad Tandar quit his party and joined Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, he said that the leaders of ANP had forgotten the mission of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan and preferred to accumulate wealth at all costs.

Flanked by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister`s adviser Arif Yousuf advocate, and PTI provincial general se cret ary Khalid Masood, Mr Tandar said that at present it was Imran Khan who was following the ideology of Bacha Khan in its real sense.

He said that Imran was the only leader who could rid the society of corruption.

He alleged that the previous ANP-led government had sold government jobs by appointing people in violation of merit.

He said that ANP had kept Pakhtuns deprived of their due rights during its five-year tenure in the government.

Mr Tandar, who is a former nazim of union council, Kakshal, claimed that ANP had sold Pakhtuns to the West and it swallowed the entire development funds. PTI, he said, was the only political force which was challenging mafia politics and status quo in every part of the country.

`No one could have challenged MQM in Karachi, PML N in Punjab and PPP in interior Sindh. PTI is the only force which has been able to do this. It will be very difficult for me if I do not become part of the change process started under the leadership of Imran Khan,` he said.

Mr Masood said that PTI was striving for bringing transparency in the political and bureaucratic setup in the country.

He said that wrong policies of the previous governments had induced disunity among people such as in Balochistan.

Bureau Report