*ISLAMABAD: **JUI – F Chief Fazalur Rehman faces one of the biggestchallenge of his political career as **Federal Minister for Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan (GB) Ali Amin Gandapur took him Headon.*
*Gandapur threw down the gantlet to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman tocall off his Islamabad sit-in and face him in an electoral fray.*
In a fiery speech on the floor of the National Assembly, he said theMaulana has been making a hue and cry over alleged election tampering.
“Fazlur Rehman, you talk about rigging. Come and fight an election byinstalling cameras [inside polling stations],” he said, adding that theJUI-F chief was alive to the fact that the people rejected him in lastyear’s elections.
“I am saying on the floor of the house that I am ready [for a face-off],”he thundered, asking the JUI-F chief to call off the protest and tender anapology to the nation.
Taking up the gauntlet, Maulana Asad Mahmood, son of Maulana Fazl, said:“You announced that the Maulana fight an election. According to you, theMaulana didn’t win [last year’s] election.”
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He said he is ready to face the minister in an electoral battle, asking himto resign from his NA seat first in order for him to do the same to go tothe public to put the record straight.
Earlier, on Nov 2, Gandapur had announced to hold a public gathering inMaulana Fazlur Rehman’s constituency.
He challenged the Maulana to face him in the electoral ground and offeredto leave his seat for a re-election.
While making the announcement, the minister claimed that he will exhibitpublic power in Maulana’s constituency, adding that a huge number ofnationals will participate in the public gathering in the constituencywhere the opposition parties failed to jointly gather people for any event.