- CM’s spox confirms Gandapur personally funded expenses.
- Sources say he has given additional Rs5m for another rally.
- Rent for hundreds of vehicles for convoy already paid.
PESHAWAR: With the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) set to hold a power show in Swabi to mark last year’s February 8 general elections, sources have told Geo News that the rallies over time have cost Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur Rs500 million .
The sources said that the CM personally funded the expenses for political gatherings and demonstrations, including the damage incurred during protests, such as burnt machinery and other losses.
The Imran Khan-founded party’s prospective return to street politics comes against the backdrop of its negotiations with the government — which now seem to have collapsed after its refusal to attend the fourth round of talks on January 28 citing the government’s failure to form a judicial commission to probe the May 9 riots and November 2024 protests as per its charter of demands.
The dialogue process between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government and the PTI commenced in late December after months of heightened political tensions.
Although the PTI presented its written charter of demands and after weeks of negotiations — with three sessions taking place — little progress was made on key matters.
With the local administration denying PTI’s request to hold a rally at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan, party’s Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Friday said that they would hold a rally only in Swabi in PTI-ruled KP while protests would take place at tehsil and union council levels.
Sources have revealed that CM Gandapur has provided PTI with an additional Rs5 million for the upcoming rally with the rent for hundreds of vehicles participating in the rally convoy already been paid.
A large convoy from the Dera Ismail Khan region, led by Umar Amin, is expected to arrive in Swabi for the event.
KP CM’s spokesperson Faraz Mughal confirmed Geo News that Gandapur had been covering these expenses out of his own pocket.
He added that the chief minister had also allocated funds for the upcoming rally and remained committed to supporting the party.
The significant expenditure on PTI’s political activities has raised discussions about the financial aspects of such large-scale events, prompting debates over political funding and resource allocation in the province.
The financial costs, owing to PTI’s street politics provisioning multiple protests and sit-ins in recent times aren’t only limited to the party itself but have had a larger impact with its protests and sit-ins, costing over Rs2 billion in 18 months as per official figures obtained from government sources.
According to a November 2024 report, Rs2.7 billion was spent managing PTI’s protests and sit-ins with Rs1.2 billion being spent due to intensified demonstrations in Punjab, KP and Islamabad, whereas Rs1.5 billion damage was caused to public and private property.
In the same month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb disclosed that shutdowns triggered by the opposition’s protest calls were resulting in Rs190 billion loss per day.
