PESHAWAR, Nov 17: Members of different groups of Pakistan People`s Party have started lobbying to get key seats, especially the general secretary`s slot, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but the central leadership seems least interested to pay heed to them.

A central leader told Dawn that the appointment of Khanzada Khan of Mardan as provincial president of PPP had confused all those who struggled for the slot, but Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari did not pay them any attention.

The source said that former provincial president Anwar Saifullah Khan was doing well to re-activate the disgruntled workers by visiting different parts of the province and holding meetings with people, but the lobbies created problems for him, particularly after the party`s defeat in general elections.

`The disappointing results became the major reason for replacement of Mr Saifullah because his opponents came out openly against him and claimed that they (if appointed) would be able to re-organ-ise the party and enable it win the future elections,` the source revealed.

The workers, he said, were still divided as they had not seen a clearcut policy from the newly-appointed president and the situation could be normalised after announcement of new office-bearers.

`At present the same cabinet (office-bearers) that worked under Mr Saifullah is in place and many of them are unable to face common workers due to previous wrong policies. The annoyed workers are not ready to accommodate former provincial ministers due to their attitude with them,` the source said.

He warned that if the new president also gave the party`s reins in hands of the same old guards then he would also be unable to come up to the expectations of central leadership.

He said that the new president would have to face opposition of some people to re-activate majority of the annoyed workers and only then the party would be able to compete with rival parties.However, Mr Khanzada told Dawn on Sunday that he would first take all the party people into confidence and then name office-bearers at different levels in the province.

`I have no lobby and am loyal to the party only. Everyone knows that I have never vied to get the slot, but the central leadership directed me in the central executive committee meeting to take the responsibility and I obeyed,` he said.

Mr Khanzada said that he had not changed any of the office-bearers in the province for the time being because the decisions would be taken in consultation with workers and leaders so that people picked up with consensus could get the offices for a positive change.

`Till now, I remained confined to my home district Mardan. But now I will spend maximum time in Peshawar and in visits to different districts to meet the workers and discuss issues with them,` the PPP leader said.

Provincial coordination secretary Syed Ayub Shah stressed the need for radical changes in the policy andbringing forward the workers on basis of merit to implement the party manifesto and follow the line of Bhuttos.

`At this stage the party has two types of people; one is the privileged class and the other extremely poor, but the new leadership will have to run the party in a balanced way to recover the loss it faced in the previous elections,` he suggested.

For the ideological workers, he said, the offices (party slots) did not have any importance, but they needed honour and confidence of the leaders. The former ministers will have to treat people of all the districts alike, he said.

When contacted, a PPP member of the provincial assembly said that the party was yet to give its MPAs any new policy after the sacking of Qaumi Watan Party ministers.

`We have not held a meeting with the new president so far. We will meet him when he would like to discuss the issues pertaining to parliamentary politics and party organisation,` the MPA said.