HYDERABAD: Former Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Irfan Gul Magsi has withdrawn from the polls race in favour of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate after joining the Muttahida in Karachi on Tuesday.

Magsi, a former Sindh minister and MPA, made the announcement at the MQM-P`s local zonal office here on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference along with the party`s candidates for the national and provincial assembly seats, he said.

He said Karachi and Hyderabad were Pakistan`s heart, adding that the PPP government had not counted 7.3 million people in the census; they were counted only when the MQM-P raised the issue.

He said he could get a seat for Rs30m or Rs40m sold by the PPP, but he abhorred such politics. He vowed to make the city a developed area through collective efforts.

Wasim Hussain welcomed Dr Irfan Gul Magsi to the party, came hard on the caretaker government and claimed that returning officers were not neutral. He added that the revenue collected from Hyderabad should be spent on the city as those funds did not belong to the Shoros.-Staff Correspondent