In the first sign of cracks in the Pakistan People’s Party, senior party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said party chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s “unnecessary delay” in naming him as the prime minister has led to the perception that he was being “humiliated and betrayed”.The “unnecessary delay” in announcing the prime ministerial candidate was causing “some disturbance within the party” and “there is a feeling on the streets that I am being insulted, humiliated and betrayed”, Fahim, who is PPP vice-president, said.Three days after the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto on December 27, her widower Zardari had told a news conference that she had wanted Fahim to be the PPP’s prime ministerial candidate though a final decision would be taken by the party’s central executive committee.The PPP, which swept last month’s general election and plans to form government with the backing of the PML-N and ANP, is yet to name its candidate for premiership though Fahim has been projected by sections of the party leadership as the front-runner for the slot .Fahim told The News that “Mr Zardari should try to keep the PPP intact by avoiding splits in its ranks till the time (his son) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari takes over the command of the party from him”.
