ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) MNA Syed Ali Raza Abidi announced his resignation from the National Assembly on Monday.
In a letter written to Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and shared on Twitter, Abidi said he was resigning for political and personal reasons.
“I announce to quit MQM-P and resign from NA-251 as this is not what I believed in and stood for,” Abidi had tweeted following a joint press conference held by MQM-P chief Farooq Sattar and Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Mustafa Kamal in which both parties announced an alliance, saying they would contest the upcoming general elections under one manifesto, one symbol and one name.
Although the alliance lasted a mere 24 hours, as Sattar announced his resignation and return as the MQM-P chief in a dramatic turn of events, Abidi stuck to his guns.
Today, he announced on the micro-blogging platform that he had been invited by the speaker to submit his resignation in person on Wednesday. He also provided the reasons behind his decision to resign in another tweet.
He said he was resigning because of “the four-year operation in Karachi, its motives, interventions, its results and the future,” his inability to do anything for his constituency and the city, census results, local government powers and because he could not be a part of an electoral alliance with the PSP.
Abidi had been at the centre of a dispute with last year when he was asked to resign by the leadership for failing to follow party policies and directives constituted after MQM founder Altaf Hussain’s August 22, 2016 speech. The action had resulted in a strong response from MQM-London.
