A new controversy has erupted within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as party leaders are at odds over the unexpected approval of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) budget. Accusations are being leveled that this move effectively sidelined the party’s incarcerated founder, Imran Khan.
The dispute gained traction after Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, alleged that the KP government hastily passed the budget without the explicit instructions of the party founder. She suggested this action amounted to making Khan “minus one” from his own party.
Aleema Khan: ‘I Think He Is Minus One’
Speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail after visiting her brother, Aleema Khan responded candidly to a journalist’s question about whether Imran Khan had stated the budget wouldn’t pass without his approval, and if its passage now meant he had been “minused.”
“I think it is done,” she remarked, referring to the feared “minus one” formula—a term frequently used to describe attempts to remove Imran Khan from PTI’s core leadership.
She criticized KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s administration for allegedly rushing the budget approval process without consulting the party founder.
PTI Secretary General Questions Process
Echoing Aleema’s concerns, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja also expressed reservations about the process. He stated that Imran Khan had specifically instructed that the budget not be passed without his prior consultation.
“Khan Sahib’s only instruction was that I should be consulted before passing the budget. That consultation didn’t happen,” Raja asserted, questioning why the KP budget was passed on June 23 when it could have been delayed until the 30th. He remarked that questions have arisen regarding the reason for passing the budget on this new date.
Barrister Gohar: No One Can Minus Khan
In response, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan strongly refuted Aleema Khan’s statement and dismissed the concept of a “minus one” scheme.
“No one in the world can minus Khan Sahib. Not even the biggest powers could do it,” Gohar declared, rejecting both the claim that the budget was approved improperly and the implication that the party founder was sidelined.
“This is Khan Sahib’s assembly, Khan Sahib’s vote, and Khan Sahib’s budget. How can it be passed without his instructions?” Gohar questioned. He denied that the budget had been approved a day earlier while also acknowledging it fell within his leader’s purview.
Gandapur Hits Back at ‘Hypocrisy’ and ‘Conspiracy’
KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur issued a strong rebuttal via a video message, criticizing internal factions for allegedly working against the founder’s vision.
“Some people are advancing the agenda of weakening the PTI founder; these people are spreading the agenda of the founder’s opponents,” Gandapur stated, warning that a conspiracy was underway to justify the imposition of a financial emergency or even governor’s rule in KP under the pretext of the budget.
He further alleged that some individuals were acting hypocritically and conspiratorially in an effort to seize the powers of the PTI founder for themselves. “There was a continuous conspiracy to remove us (from power), and many of our own people were part of it,” the CM alleged, adding that the budget was passed out of constitutional necessity, not betrayal.
“At the time of budget approval, sometimes there was talk of treason and sometimes of minus one. A campaign was continuously run, and then the PTI founder’s statement also appeared. The PTI founder has said he did not stop anyone from presenting the budget.”
Gandapur stated, “Due to a lack of meetings, no instructions were received from the founder regarding the budget. But let it be clear — whenever the founder of PTI says, we will dissolve this government. But Imran Khan does not want to dissolve it.”
He accused unnamed individuals of issuing “fatwas and accusations of treason” and playing dual roles within the party.
“Recognize those who talk of minus one. That will only happen when we are no longer alive,” the KP chief minister vowed, pledging to resist any such agenda.
