TAXILA: Pakistan Tehreeki-Insaf (PTI) Attock President Qazi Ahmed Akbar has said grouping in the party would not dent its vote bank in the upcoming elections.

He was talking to newsmen at Jatial house in Hazro on Saturday.

After emerging as the strongest political party in the district following the 2018 general elections, the PTI was soon entangled in grouping over allocation of tickets in the by-polls and award of minister`s portfolios.

The PTI Attock chapter gotdivided in three groups each led by retired Major Tahir Sadiq, former special assistant to prime minister Malik Amin Aslam and ex-provincial minister Syed Yawar Abbas Bukhari.

There was strong revolt in the party ranks after exclusion from the candidature list of retired Maj Sadiq and not awarding party ticket to his family in the by-polls.

Mr Akbar while responding to a question said grouping always happened in political parties at organisational level and we expect that all groups would shun their differences ahead ofthe generalelections.

`We hope that ticket alloca-tion would not fuel internal dissident in party in the district, he added.

Dispelling impression over the resistance from the party leadership over award of ticket for National Assembly to former special assistant to prime minister Zulfi Bukhari, Mr Akbar said PTI was a disciplined party and its leadership as well as candidates followed decisions of the parliamentary board.

Mr Akbar claimed that all fractions and groups despite differences were united and this would be proved on the polling day.

Asked if Mr Sadiq, who remained vocal against his theparty leadership`s decisions, would differ with any decision over award of ticket to other than his group, he said things would be clear before the elections.

He said various development projects were being executed across the district under the Rs10 billion development plan for which funds were provided by the provincial government and these projects were scheduled to be completed during the current fiscal year.

He said for the first time in the history of Punjab, backward and neglected areas of Attock had been included in the development package. He said the funds will be spent ondifferent development projects which included establishment of a 200-bed Mother and Child Hospital, upgradation of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital and a nursing school to the college level.

A trauma centre will be set up in the DHQ hospital and Gondal where all facilities will be available to handle any type of fatalities on Rawalpindi-Peshawar GT Road, Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway and Hazara Motorway.

He said that a house for orphans would be built at a cost of Rs400 million in Attock. He said Attock to Haji Shah and Jhala Khan Chowk to Bahtar road will also be carpeted.